Geo-spatially constrained private neighborhood social network

• US 8,775,328 B1
• Filed: 03/10/2014
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raj Abhyanker
• Original Assignee: Raj Abhyanker
• Inventors: Abhyanker, Raj
• Primary Examiner(s): FEENEY, BRETT A
• Application Number:
  US14/203,531
• Publication Number:
  US 20140195629A1
• Time in Patent Office: 120 Days
• US Class Current: 705/325
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• 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 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A method and system an online neighborhood social network designed to create private websites to facilitate communication among neighbors and build stronger neighborhoods. The private websites are embodied in a website having a domain name of nextdoor.com. In one embodiment, a method verifies that a user lives at a residence associated with a residential address claimed by the user of an online neighborhood social network. The method restricts access to a particular neighborhood to the user and to neighboring users living within the neighborhood boundary of the residence. A social network page of the user is created once verified and access privileges are determined. A message is distributed to neighboring users that are verified to live within a neighborhood boundary of the residence. The method may designate the user as a lead user with an additional privilege based on a participation level of the user in the online community.

Claims

1. A system of a global neighborhood environment comprising:

a computer server of the global neighborhood environment;

the computer server including one or more computers having non-transitory instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers;

to verify that a user lives at a residence associated with a geographic location claimed by the user of the global neighborhood environment using a processor and a memory,

to create a social network page of the user once verified,

to enable the user to constrain a communication to neighboring users within a geospatial vicinity of the residence of the user based on a neighborhood boundary,

to distribute a message in a distance away from the residence of the user based on the neighborhood boundary,

to provide an additional privilege as a lead user in the online community of the global neighborhood environment based on at least one of a participation level of the user in the online community and an activity level of the user associated with encouraging neighbors to participate in the online community, and

to automatically determine a set of access privileges in the online community associated with each user of the online community by constraining access in private web sites of the online community to neighboring users based on each residence associated with each geographic location claimed by each user of the global neighborhood environment,

wherein the one or more computers to permit the user to set a privacy setting associated with a profile data of the user such that a certain information is marked as private and is therefore masked from being visible to neighboring users of the online community in the global neighborhood environment, and

wherein the global neighborhood environment formed through the computer server has a domain name of nextdoor having a generic top-level suffix of com.

2. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 1:

wherein the computer server to permit the user to provide at least one of a recommendation and an event suggestion to neighboring users based on the residence associated with the geographic location claimed by the user of the global neighborhood environment.

3. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 1:

wherein the computer server to permit the user of the global neighborhood environment to mark certain information communicated directly to a particular neighboring user as private, such that privately shared information is shared only with the particular neighboring user and is designated as non-public to other neighboring users of the online community.

4. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 1:

wherein the computer server to filter information to only display messages from a particular neighborhood associated with each verified user, and

wherein the computer server to permit private posts only in the particular neighborhood to verified users having verified addresses within the neighborhood.

5. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 1:

wherein the computer server utilizes a postcard method through which the computer server generates a physical postcard that is postal mailed to users in a particular neighborhood of the social network.

6. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 1 wherein the global neighborhood environment is designed to create private websites to facilitate communication among neighbors and build stronger neighborhoods.

7. A computer server including one or more processors having non-transitory instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the computer server:

to verify that a user lives at a residence associated with a geographic location claimed by the user of an online neighborhood social network using a processor and a memory,

to create a social network page of the user once verified in the online neighborhood social network,

to enable the user to constrain communications to neighboring users in a geospatial vicinity of the residence of the user based on a neighborhood boundary of the online neighborhood social network,

to automatically determine a set of access privileges in the online neighborhood social network associated with the neighborhood boundary of the online neighborhood social network by constraining access in a private website in the online neighborhood social network to the user and to neighboring users of the user based on each residence associated with each geographic location claimed by each user of the online neighborhood social network verified to live within the neighborhood boundary,

wherein the user is provided an additional privilege as a lead user in the online neighborhood social network based on at least one of a participation level of the user in the online neighborhood social network and an activity level of the user associated with encouraging neighbors to participate in the online neighborhood social network, and

wherein the computer server to permit the user to set a privacy setting associated with a profile data such that a certain information is marked as private in the online neighborhood social network and is therefore masked from being visible to neighboring users of the online neighborhood social network.

8. The computer server of claim 7 wherein the online neighborhood social network has a domain name of nextdoor.

9. The computer server of claim 7:

wherein the computer server to permit the user to provide a recommendation to neighboring users based on the residence associated with the geographic location claimed by the user of the online neighborhood social network.

10. The computer server of claim 7:

wherein the computer server to permit the user of the online neighborhood social network to mark certain information communicated directly to a particular neighboring user as private, such that privately shared information is shared only with the particular neighboring user and is designated as non-public to other neighboring users of the online neighborhood social network.

11. The computer server of claim 7:

wherein the computer server to filter information to only display messages from a particular neighborhood associated with each verified user, and

wherein the computer server to permit private posts only in the particular neighborhood to verified users having verified addresses within a particular neighborhood boundary associated with the particular neighborhood.

12. The computer server of claim 7:

wherein the computer server utilizes a postcard method through which the computer server generates a physical postcard that is postal mailed to neighboring users living within the neighborhood boundary of the online neighborhood social network.

13. The computer server of claim 7:

wherein the online neighborhood social network is designed to create private websites to facilitate communication among neighbors and build stronger neighborhoods.

14. A method comprising:

verifying that a user lives at a residence associated with a residential address claimed by the user of an online neighborhood social network using a processor and a memory;

creating a social network page of the user once verified in the online neighborhood social network;

distributing, via the processor and the memory, a message from the user to neighboring users that are verified to live within a neighborhood boundary of the residence;

designating, via the processor and the memory, the user as a lead user having an additional privilege in a private website of the online neighborhood social network confined by the neighborhood boundary based on at least one of a participation level of the user in the online neighborhood social network and an activity level of the user associated with encouraging neighboring users to participate in the online neighborhood social network;

automatically determining, via the processor and the memory, a set of access privileges in the private website of the online neighborhood social network associated with the user; and

restricting access, via the processor and the memory, to a particular neighborhood in the private website of the online neighborhood social network to the user and to neighboring users living within the neighborhood boundary of the residence,

wherein the neighboring users are determined based on each residence associated with each geographic location claimed by each neighboring user of the online neighborhood social network that is within the neighborhood boundary,

permitting the user to set a privacy setting associated with a profile data such that a certain information is marked as private in the online neighborhood social network, via the processor and the memory, and is therefore masked from being visible to neighboring users of the online neighborhood social network, and

wherein the online neighborhood social network has a domain name of nextdoor having a generic top-top level suffix of com.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising at least one of:

distributing a recommendation of the user to neighboring users based on the residence associated with the geographic location claimed by the user of the online neighborhood social network; and

publishing an event listing posted by the user to neighboring users based on the residence associated with the geographic location claimed by the user of the online neighborhood social network.

16. The method of claim 14:

permitting the user of the online neighborhood social network to mark certain information communicated to a particular neighboring user as private; and

designating the certain information shared only with the particular neighboring user as non-public to other neighboring users of the online neighborhood social network.

17. The method of claim 14:

filtering information to only display messages from a particular neighborhood associated with each verified user; and

permitting private posts only in the particular neighborhood to verified users having verified addresses within the neighborhood boundary.

18. The method of claim 14:

utilizing a postcard method through which the computer server generates a physical postcard that is postal mailed to neighboring users living within the neighborhood boundary of the online neighborhood social network.

19. The method of claim 14:

wherein the online neighborhood social network is designed to create private websites to facilitate communication among neighbors and build safer neighborhoods.

20. A system of a global neighborhood environment comprising:

a computer server of the global neighborhood environment;

the computer server including one or more computers having non-transitory instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the one or more computers;

to verify that a user lives at a residence associated with a geographic location claimed by the user of the global neighborhood environment using a processor and a memory,

to create a social network page of the user once verified,

to enable the user to constrain a communication to neighboring users within a geospatial vicinity of the residence of the user,

to provide an additional privilege as a lead user in the online community of the global neighborhood environment based on at least one of a participation level of the user in the online community and an activity level of the user associated with encouraging neighbors to participate in the online community, and

to automatically determine a set of access privileges in the online community associated with each user of the online community by constraining access in private web sites of the online community to neighboring users based on each residence associated with each geographic location claimed by each user of the global neighborhood environment,

wherein the one or more computers to permit the user of the global neighborhood environment to mark certain information communicated directly to a particular neighboring user as private, such that privately shared information is shared only with the particular neighboring user and is designated as non-public to other neighboring users of the online community.

21. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 20:

wherein the computer server to permit the user to set a privacy setting associated with a profile data of the user such that a certain information is marked as private and is therefore masked from being visible to neighboring users of the online community in the global neighborhood environment.

22. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 20:

wherein the computer server to permit the user to provide at least one of a recommendation and an event suggestion to neighboring users based on the residence associated with the geographic location claimed by the user of the global neighborhood environment.

23. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 20:

wherein the global neighborhood environment formed through the computer server is named nextdoor.

24. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 20:

wherein the computer server to filter information to only display messages from a particular neighborhood associated with each verified user, and

wherein the computer server to permit private posts only in the particular neighborhood to verified users having verified addresses within the neighborhood.

25. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 20 wherein the computer server utilizes a postcard method through which the computer server generates a physical postcard that is postal mailed to neighboring users in a particular neighborhood of the social network.

26. The system of the global neighborhood environment of claim 20 wherein the global neighborhood environment is designed to create private websites to facilitate communication among neighbors and build safer neighborhoods.

27. A computer server comprising:

a processor and a memory having non-transitory instructions stored thereon that when executed cause the computer server;

to verify that a user lives at a residence associated with a geographic location claimed by the user of an online neighborhood social network using the processor and the memory,

to create a social network page of the user once verified in the online neighborhood social network,

to enable the user to constrain communications to neighboring users in a geospatial vicinity of the residence of the user based on a neighborhood boundary of the online neighborhood social network,

wherein the user is provided an additional privilege as a lead user in the online neighborhood social network based on at least one of a participation level of the user in the online neighborhood social network and an activity level of the user associated with encouraging neighbors to participate in the online neighborhood social network,

to automatically determine a set of access privileges in the online neighborhood social network associated with the neighborhood boundary of the online neighborhood social network by constraining access in a private website in the online neighborhood social network to the user and to neighboring users of the user based on each residence associated with each geographic location claimed by each user of the online neighborhood social network verified to live within the neighborhood boundary,

wherein the computer server to permit the user of the online neighborhood social network to mark certain information communicated directly to a particular neighboring user as private, such that privately shared information is shared only with the particular neighboring user and is designated as non-public to other neighboring users of the online neighborhood social network, and

wherein the online neighborhood social network has a domain name of nextdoor.

28. The computer server of claim 27:

wherein the computer server to permit the user to set a privacy setting associated with a profile data such that a certain information is marked as private in the online neighborhood social network and is therefore masked from being visible to neighboring users of the online neighborhood social network.

29. The computer server of claim 27:

wherein the computer server to permit the user to provide a recommendation to neighboring users based on the residence associated with the geographic location claimed by the user of the online neighborhood social network.

30. The computer server of claim 27:

wherein the computer server to filter information to only display messages from a particular neighborhood associated with each verified user, and

wherein the computer server to permit private posts only in the particular neighborhood to verified users having verified addresses within a particular neighborhood boundary associated with the particular neighborhood.

31. The computer server of claim 27:

wherein the computer server utilizes a postcard method through which the computer server generates a physical postcard that is postal mailed to neighboring users living within the neighborhood boundary of the online neighborhood social network.

32. The computer server of claim 27:

wherein the online neighborhood social network is designed to create private websites to facilitate communication among neighbors and build stronger neighborhoods.

33. A method comprising:

verifying that a user lives at a residence associated with a residential address claimed by the user of an online neighborhood social network using a processor and a memory;

creating a social network page of the user once verified in the online neighborhood social network;

distributing, via the processor and the memory, a message from the user to neighboring users that are verified to live within a neighborhood boundary of the residence;

designating, via the processor and the memory, the user as a lead user having an additional privilege in a private website of the online neighborhood social network confined by the neighborhood boundary based on at least one of a participation level of the user in the online neighborhood social network and an activity level of the user associated with encouraging neighboring users to participate in the online neighborhood social network;

automatically determining, via the processor and memory, a set of access privileges in the private website of the online neighborhood social network associated with the user; and

restricting access, via the processor and the memory, to a particular neighborhood in the private website of the online neighborhood social network to the user and to neighboring users living within the neighborhood boundary of the residence,

permitting, via the processor and the memory, the user of the online neighborhood social network to mark certain information communicated to a particular neighboring user as private; and

designating, via the processor and the memory, the certain information shared only with the particular neighboring user as non-public to other neighboring users of the online neighborhood social network,

wherein the neighboring users are determined based on each residence associated with each geographic location claimed by each neighboring user of the online neighborhood social network that is within the neighborhood boundary.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein:

wherein the global neighborhood environment formed through the computer server has a domain name of nextdoor.

35. The method of claim 33 further comprising at least one of:

permitting the user to set a privacy setting associated with a profile data such that a certain information is marked as private in the online neighborhood social network and is therefore masked from being visible to neighboring users of the online neighborhood social network;

distributing a recommendation of the user to neighboring users based on the residence associated with the geographic location claimed by the user of the online neighborhood social network; and

publishing an event listing posted by the user to neighboring users based on the residence associated with the geographic location claimed by the user of the online neighborhood social network.

36. The method of claim 33:

filtering information to only display messages from a particular neighborhood associated with each verified user; and

permitting private posts only in the particular neighborhood to verified users having verified addresses within the neighborhood boundary.

37. The method of claim 33:

utilizing a postcard method through which the computer server generates a physical postcard that is postal mailed to neighboring users living within the neighborhood boundary of the online neighborhood social network.

38. The method of claim 33:

wherein the online neighborhood social network is designed to create private websites to facilitate communication among neighbors and build neighborhoods.