Social network relationship mapping

• US 8,977,979 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2010
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Balasubramanian, Swaminathan, Handy-Bosma, John H., O'Connell, Brian M., Walker, Keith R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUYNH, LINDA TANG
• Application Number:
  US12/960,726
• Publication Number:
  US 20120144317A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,555 Days
• Field of Search: 707600-899, 709200-253, 715200-867, 705 11-500, 345 11-689
• US Class Current: 715/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/26 Visual data mining; Browsing structured data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for social network relationship mapping. In an embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes identifying one or more terms within content displayed to a user; for each identified term: transmitting the identified term to one or more social networking servers supporting a social networking application, in response to transmitting the identified term to the social networking servers, receiving from the social networking servers a list of people that correspond with the identified term, directing a display device to display the list of people that correspond with the identified term, and in response to user input, adding an identification of a person from the list of people to a mapping clipboard; directing the display device to display a relationship graph that indicates how people identified in the mapping clipboard are connected to each other in the social networking application.

Claims

1. A method for determining and displaying relationships in a social network, the method comprising the steps of:

a computer identifying within content displayed to a user, one or more terms within displayed application window text areas of at least two different types of computer program applications;

for each of the identified terms;

the computer visually distinguishing the identified term in the displayed application window text areas;

the computer transmitting the identified term to one or more servers executing a social networking application;

the computer receiving from the one or more servers a list of people that correspond to the identified term;

the computer directing a display device to display the list of people that correspond to the identified term;

the computer directing a display device to display a mapping clipboard program graphical user interface;

the computer receiving input from the user of an identification of a person from the list of people that correspond to the identified term;

the computer receiving from the user a selection of a mapping clipboard from a plurality of mapping clipboards;

the computer adding the identification of the person from the list of people to the mapping clipboard; and

in response to user selection of one of the people in the list of people that correspond to the identified term, the computer directing the display device to display a graph that shows how the one person and other people identified in the list are connected to each other in the social networking application, wherein the connections represent a friend, relative, colleague, present co-worker, former co-worker, or classmate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes a plurality of different types of files;

and wherein the step of the computer identifying, within content displayed to the user, one or more terms includes a step of the computer identifying a first of the terms in a first of the different types of files and a second of the terms in a second of the different types of files.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of the computer receiving from the user a selection of the social networking application from a plurality of social networking applications.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer receiving a list of types of identified terms that are searchable within the social networking application;

wherein the step of the computer identifying within content displayed to the user, the one or more terms within displayed application window text areas of at least two different types of computer program applications includes the step of the computer identifying terms within the content based on the list of types of identified terms that are searchable within the social networking application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the types of identified terms are selected from the group consisting of:

names, email addresses, phone numbers, tags, employee identifiers, and employer identifiers.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

the computer assigning a ranking to each person in the list of people that corresponds with the identified term; and

in dependence upon the rankings, the computer directing the display device to display to the user, a list of identifications of people that correspond with the identified term.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the ranking for each person in the list is based on a number of times said each person has been identified as corresponding to the terms.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the ranking for each person in the list is based on the number of connections to other people between the particular person and the user within the social networking application.

9. A computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage devices and computer-readable program instructions which are stored on the one or more storage devices and when executed by one or more processors, perform the method of claim 1.

10. A computer system comprising one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, one or more computer-readable storage devices and program instructions which are stored on the one or more storage devices for execution by the one or more processors via the one or more memories and when executed by the one or more processors perform the method of claim 1.

11. A computer system for determining and displaying relationships in a social network, the computer system comprising:

one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories and one or more computer-readable storage devices, and program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to identify within content displayed to a user, one or more terms within displayed application window text areas of at least two different types of computer program applications;

program instructions to visually distinguish the identified term in the displayed application window text areas;

program instructions to transmit, for each identified term, the identified term to one or more servers executing a social networking application;

program instructions to, for each identified term, receive from the one or more servers a list of people that correspond to the identified term;

program instructions to direct a display device, for each identified term, to display the list of people that correspond to the identified term;

program instructions to direct a display device to display a mapping clipboard program graphical user interface;

program instructions to receive from the user a selection of a mapping clipboard from a plurality of mapping clipboards;

program instructions to add, for each identified term, in response to user input, an identification of a person from the list of people the mapping clipboard; and

program instructions to direct the display device to display a graph that indicates how the person and other people identified in the mapping clipboard are connected to each other in the social networking application, wherein a connection represents one of a friend, relative, colleague, present co-worker, former co-worker, or classmate.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the content includes a plurality of different types of files;

and wherein the program instructions to identify terms within the content include program instructions to identify a first of the terms in a first of the different types of files and a second of the terms in a second of the different types of files.

13. The system of claim 11 further comprising program instructions to receive from the user a selection of the social networking application from a plurality of social networking applications.

14. The system of claim 11, further comprising program instructions to receive a list of types of identified terms that are searchable within the social networking application;

wherein the program instructions to identify terms within the content include program instructions to identify terms within the content based on the list of types of identified terms that are searchable within the social networking application.

15. A computer program product for determining and displaying relationships in a social network, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable storage devices and program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, the program instructions comprising;

program instructions to identify, based on a list of types of identified terms that are searchable within a social networking application, within content displayed to a user, one or more terms within displayed application window text areas of at least two different types of computer program applications;

program instructions to visually distinguish the identified term in the displayed application window text areas;

program instructions to transmit, for each identified term, the identified term to one or more servers executing a social networking application;

program instructions to, for each identified term, receive from the one or more servers a list of people that correspond to the identified term;

program instructions to direct a display device, for each identified term, to display the list of people that correspond to the identified term;

program instructions to direct a display device to display a mapping clipboard program graphical user interface;

program instructions to receive from the user a selection of a mapping clipboard from a plurality of mapping clipboards

program instructions to add, for each identified term, in response to user input, an identification of a person from the list of people to the mapping clipboard; and

program instructions to direct the display device to display a graph that indicates how the person and other people identified in the mapping clipboard are connected to each other in the social networking application, wherein a connection represents one of a friend, relative, colleague, present co-worker, former co-worker, or classmate.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the content includes a plurality of different types of files;

and wherein the program instructions to identify terms within the content include program instructions to identify a first of the terms in a first of the different types and a second of the terms in a second of the different types of files.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 further comprising program instructions to receive from the user a selection of the social networking application from a plurality of social networking applications.