Methods and systems for providing current email addresses and contact information for members within a social network

• US 8,412,780 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2005
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Fox, Kevin David, Hess, Duane Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): BILGRAMI, ASGHAR H
• Application Number:
  US11/095,337
• Publication Number:
  US 20060224675A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,925 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 707/784
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4523 using lightweight directory access protocol [LDAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4555 Directories for electronic mail or instant messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4594 Address books, i.e. directories containing contact information about correspondents telephone directories in user terminals H04M1/27453
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing current email addresses or contact information to members within a social network are described. In one described method, an email program application requests an email address for a member within a social network. Using profile information associated with the member, the email address is provided to the email program application which sent the request. The email address is then entered into the send-to parameter field of an email message. In another described method, contact information associated with a first member of a social can be provided to a second member of the social network. The contact information is provided if the relationship between the first and second members is an authorized relationship. The contact information associated with the first member can be used to update the contact information for the first member in an electronic address book associated with the second member.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, from a client device, a request for a first email address of a first member of a social network included in a social network profile of the first member, responsive to the client device (a) detecting an input by a user of an entity identifier associated with the first member in a sending parameter of an email message intended to be sent to the first member and (b) detecting a triggering event comprising at least one event from a group consisting of;

using a send button, using a function key, using a function short key, exiting from the sending parameter, and expiration of time, wherein the request comprises the entity identifier associated with the first member;

obtaining the first email address for the first member by parsing the entity identifier from the request and obtaining the first email address from profile information associated with the first member that is stored in a storage subsystem and associated with the entity identifier, the storage subsystem storing profile information of a plurality of members of the social network, the plurality of members connected in the social network via user established relationships;

determining a degree of separation between the first member and the user, the degree of separation determined based at least in part on an inverse relationship between an association of the user with the first member and a weighting factor assigned for the association prior to determining the degree of separation, wherein a high weighting factor contributes less to the degree of separation than a low weighting factor;

transmitting the first email address to the client device based at least in part on the degree of separation;

comparing the first email address with a second email address of the first member in an electronic address book associated with the user; and

replacing the second email address in the electronic address book with the first email address in response to determining that the first email address differs from the second email address in the electronic address book.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user is a second member of the social network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the entity identifier is selected from the group consisting of a name, first name and last name, nickname, partial name, first initial with a last name, entity, email address, emailing group name, and a group name.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the client device inserts the email address in the sending parameter of the email message.

5. A method comprising:

receiving, from a client device, a request for contact information included in a social network profile of a first member of a social network, responsive to the client device detecting a triggering event initiated by a user, the triggering event comprising at least one event from a group consisting of;

using a send button, using a function key, using a function short key, exiting from a sending parameter, and expiration of time, wherein the request comprising a first entity identifier associated with the first member and a second entity identifier associated with the user;

responsive to receiving the request from the client device, determining an association and a degree of separation between the first member and the user using profile information stored in a storage subsystem and included in the social network profile of the first member, the degree of separation determined based at least in part on an inverse relationship between an association of the user with the first member and a weighting factor assigned for the association prior to determining the degree of separation, wherein a high weightin factor contributes less to the degree of separation than a low weighting factor,

wherein the storage subsystem storing profile information of a plurality of members of the social network, the plurality of members connected in the social network via user established relationships;

determining based at least in part on the determined association and the degree of separation whether the user is authorized to receive the contact information;

transmitting at least some of the contact information to the client device, responsive to determining the user is authorized to receive at least some of the contact information;

comparing the transmitted contact information with contact information for the first member in an electronic address book associated with the user; and

replacing differing contact information associated with the first member in the electronic address book with corresponding transmitted contact information.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the user is a member of the social network.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein the request for contact information is a request for an email address associated with the first member.

13. The method of claim 5 wherein the request is received responsive to the client device detecting the user inputting the first entity identifier in a sending parameter of an email message.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, from a client device, a request for contact information included in a social network profile of a first member of a social network, responsive to the client device (a) detecting a user accessing a contact name associated with the first member in an electronic address directory and (b) detecting a triggering event comprising at least one event from a group consisting of;

using a send button, using a function key, using a function short key, exiting a field of the directory, and expiration of time, wherein the request comprising a first entity identifier associated with the first member and a second entity identifier associated with the user;

responsive to receiving the request from the client device, determining an association and a degree of separation between the first member and the user using profile information stored in a storage subsystem and included in the social network profile of the first member, the degree of separation determined based at least in part on an inverse relationship between an association of the user with the first member and a weighting factor assigned for the association prior to determining the degree of separation, wherein a high weighting factor contributes less to the degree of separation than a low weighting factor,

wherein the storage subsystem storing profile information of a plurality of members of the social network, the plurality of members connected in the social network via user established relationships;

determining based at least in part on the determined association, the degree of separation and the profile information associated with the first member whether the user is authorized to receive the contact information;

transmitting at least some of the contact information to the client device, responsive to determining the user is authorized to receive at least some of contact information;

comparing the transmitted contact information with contact information for the first member in an electronic address book associated with the user; and

replacing differing contact information associated with the first member in the electronic address book with corresponding transmitted contact information.

9. A system comprising:

a computer processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by the computer processor are configured to;

receive from a client device, a request for contact information included in a social network profile of a first member of a social network, responsive to the client device detecting a triggering event initiated by a user, the triggering event comprising at least one event from a group consisting of;

using a send button, using a function key, using a function short key, exiting from a sending parameter, and expiration of time, wherein the request comprising a first entity identifier associated with the first member and a second entity identifier associated with the user;

determine an association and a degree of separation between the first member and the user using profile information stored in a storage subsystem and included in the social network profile of the first member responsive to receiving the request, the degree of separation determined based at least in part on an inverse relationship between an association of the user with the first member and a weighting factor assigned for the association prior to determining the degree of separation, wherein a high weighting factor contributes less to the degree of separation than a low weighting factor,

wherein the storage subsystem storing profile information of a plurality of members of the social network, the plurality of members connected in the social network via user established relationships;

determine based at least in part on the determined association, and the degree of separation whether the user is authorized to receive the contact information;

transmit at least some of the contact information to the client device, responsive to the user being authorized to receive at least some of the contact information;

compare the transmitted contact information with contact information for the first member in an electronic address book associated with the user; and

replace differing contact information associated with the first member in the electronic address book with corresponding transmitted contact information.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the user is a member of the social network.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the request is received responsive to the client device detecting the user inputting the first entity identifier in a sending parameter of an email message.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium on which is encoded program code comprising:

program code for receiving from a client device, a request for contact information included in a social network profile of a first member of a social network, responsive to the client device detecting a triggering event initiated by a user, the triggering event comprising at least one event from a group consisting of;

using a send button, using a function key, using a function short key, exiting from a sending parameter, and expiration of time, wherein the request comprising a first entity identifier associated with the first member and a second entity identifier associated with the user;

program code for responsive to receiving the request from the client device, determining an association and a degree of separation between the first member and the user using profile information stored in a storage subsystem and included in the social network profile of the first member responsive to receiving the request from the client device, the degree of separation determined based at least in part on an inverse relationship between an association of the user with the first member and a weighting factor assigned for the association prior to determining the degree of separation, wherein a high weighting factor contributes less to the degree of separation than a low weighting factor,

wherein the storage subsystem storing profile information of a plurality of members of the social network, the plurality of members connected in the social network via user established relationships;

program code for determining based at least in part on the determined association and the degree of separation whether the user is authorized to receive the contact information; and

program code for transmitting at least some of the contact information to the client device, responsive to determining the user is authorized to receive at least some of the contact information;

program code for comparing the transmitted contact information with contact information for the first member in an electronic address book associated with the user; and

program code for replacing differing contact information associated with the first member in the electronic address book with corresponding transmitted contact information.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the user is a member of the social network.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the request is received responsive to the client device detecting the user inputting the first entity identifier in a sending parameter of an email message.