Extracting social relations from calling time data

• US 8,681,957 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2012
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AirBNB Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Baras, Dorit, Ronen, Amir
• Primary Examiner(s): Asanbayev, Oleg
• Application Number:
  US13/468,041
• Publication Number:
  US 20130301823A1
• Time in Patent Office: 684 Days
• Field of Search: 379/133, 379/134, 379/137, 379/139, 379/112.01, 705/7.28
• US Class Current: 379/133
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/556 Statistical analysis and interpretation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/655 Combination of telephone service and social networking messaging within social networks H04L51/52

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product for generating a social network data structure, the method comprising: receiving a corpus comprising one or more communication indications for one or more customers, each communication indication indicating start time and end time of a communication of the customer; and generating a social network data structure indicating connections between customers based upon the start time and end time indications of communication indication comprised in the communication indications.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by a computerized device, comprising:

receiving, at the computerized device, a corpus comprising at least two communication indications for at least two customers, the at least two communication indications indicating start time and end time of communications of the at least two customers, and lacking indication of a called number;

generating, at the computerized device, a social network data structure containing a connection between the at least two customers wherein the connection is estimated by matching the start time and the end time indications comprised in the at least two communication indications;

wherein the generating the social network data structure is done in absence of information related to direct communication between the at least two customers;

wherein the absence of information is due to the at least two customers calling an anonymous number;

wherein the generating the social network data structure comprises;

assigning the at least two communication indications into at least one times bin data structure comprising a multiplicity of bins, each bin associated with the start time and the end time indications;

generating at least one pair from the at least one times bin data structure, each of the at least one pair associated with a first customer and a second customer, and comprising a weight indication for communications of the first customer and the second customer; and

removing the at least one pair subject to the weight indication being below a predetermined threshold; and

wherein the weight indication is increased by one for each of the at least one bins in which the first customer and the second customer appear.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least two communication indications comprises a communication start time and a communication end time, within a predetermined resolution.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least two communication indications comprises a communication start time and a communication duration, within a predetermined resolution.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least two communication indications comprises a communication duration and a communication end time, within a predetermined resolution.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising performing additional analysis on the social network data structure.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the additional analysis is selected from the group consisting of:

secondary network connections;

integration with demographic information related to the at least two customers;

integration with communication information related to the at least two customers;

expected properties of the social network data structure; and

social balance.

7. An apparatus having a processing unit and a storage device, the apparatus comprising:

a corpus receiving component for receiving a corpus comprising at least two communication indications for at least two customers, the at least two communication indications indicating start time and end time of communications of the at least two customers, and lacking indication of a called number;

a social network generation component for generating a social network data structure containing a connection between the at least two customers, wherein the connection is estimated by matching the start time and the end time indications comprised in the at least two communication indications;

wherein generating the social network data structure is done in absence of information related to direct communication between the at least two customers;

wherein the absence of information is due to the at least two customers calling an anonymous number;

wherein the social network generation component comprises;

a times bin assignment component for assigning the at least two communication indications into at least one times bin data structure comprising a multiplicity of bins, each bin associated with the start time and the end time indications;

a pair assignment component for generating at least one pair from the at least one times bin data structure, each of the at least one pair associated with a first customer and a second customer, and comprising a weight indication for communications between the first customer and the second customer; and

a pair analysis component for removing the at least one pair subject to the weight indication being below a predetermined threshold; and

wherein the weight indication is increased by one for each of the at least one bins in which the first customer and the second customer appear.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least two communication indications comprises a communication start time and a communication end time, within a predetermined resolution.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least two communication indications comprises a communication start time and a communication duration or a communication duration and a communication end time, within a predetermined resolution.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising an additional analysis component for performing additional analysis on the social network data structure.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the additional analysis is selected from the group consisting of:

secondary network connections;

integration with demographic information related to the at least two customers;

integration with communication information related to the at least two customers;

expected properties of the social network data structure; and

social balance.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a data and control flow management component for managing data and control flow within the apparatus.

13. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium;

wherein a first and a second program instructions are stored on said non-transitory computer readable medium and when executed by a processor perform;

said first program instruction receiving a corpus comprising at least two communication indications of at least two customers, the at least two communication indications indicating start time and end time of communications of the at least two customers, and lacking indication of a called number; and

said second program instruction generating a social network data structure containing a connection between the at least two customers, wherein the connection is estimated by matching the start time and the end time indications comprised in the at least two communication indications;

wherein generating the social network data structure, by said second program, is done in absence of information related to direct communication between the at least two customers;

wherein the absence of information is due to the at least two customers calling an anonymous number;

wherein generating the social network data structure, by said second program, comprises;

assigning the at least two communication indications into at least one times bin data structure comprising a multiplicity of bins, each bin associated with the start time and the end time indications;

generating at least one pair from the at least one times bin data structure, each of the at least one pair associated with a first customer and a second customer, and comprising a weight indication for communications of the first customer and the second customer; and

removing the at least one pair subject to the weight indication being below a predetermined threshold; and

wherein the weight indication is increased by one for each of the at least one bins in which the first customer and the second customer appear.