Method and server for searching for nearby user in social networking services

• US 9,092,532 B2
• Filed: 05/14/2014
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Original Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Inventors: Chen, Junchao, Wu, Yu, Ma, Cuilong, Huang, Tianqing, Ye, Wa, Lin, Xiangyao, Lin, Xueqin, Rong, Kunfeng, Lai, Zhonghua, Cui, Haochuan, Feng, Jingqiong, Zhang, Yuxuan, Ling, Guo
• Primary Examiner(s): Chbouki, Tarek
• Application Number:
  US14/277,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20140258281A1
• Time in Patent Office: 440 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

When location information and a user Identification (ID) is received from a client terminal device of a user X, a grid Y, to which the location information belongs, is determined. The user ID and the location information of the user X is stored in a list of the grid Y. The grid Y is in a grid array obtained by dividing a surface of the earth into the grids and areas of the grids are the same. Users in the grid Y and other grids are searched. The grid Y and the other grids form an N-grid and the grid Y is a center of the N-grid. The users are ranked in an ascending order of distances between the users and the user X. The ranked user IDs and distances between the users and the user X are sent to the client terminal device of the user X.

Claims

1. A method for searching for nearby users in Social Networking Services (SNS) applied to a computer comprising a storage and a processor, which executes instructions stored in the storage to execute steps of:

receiving location information and a user Identification (ID) from a client terminal device of a user X;

determining a grid Y, to which the location information belongs;

saving the user ID, the location information and reporting time of the user X in a list of the grid Y;

wherein the grid Y is one of grids in a grid array obtained by dividing a surface of the earth into the grids and areas of the grids are the same;

searching for users in the grid Y and other girds;

wherein the grid Y and the other grids form an N-grid and the grid Y is a center of the N-grid, N=n*n, n is an odd larger than or equal to 3;

ranking the users according to distances between the users and the user X and the reporting time of the user X;

wherein the closer a distance between a user and the user X, the higher rank of the user is, and the shorter time between the reporting time of the user and a current time is, the higher the rank of the user is; and

sending the ranked user IDs of the users and the distances between the users and the user X to the client terminal device of the user X,

wherein the ranked user IDs of the users are received by the user X and used by the user X to contact other users;

wherein ranking the users according to the distances between the users and the user X and the reporting time of the user X comprises;

computing a weight A_i=a*D_i+b*T_i of a user i;

wherein a and b are weighting coefficients, D_i is a distance between the user i and the user X, T_i is time between the current time and the reporting time of the user i; and

ranking the users in an ascending order of the weight.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein sending the ranked user IDs of the users and distances between the users and the user X to the client terminal device of the user X comprises:

determining whether number of the users is less than or equal to M;

sending the ranked user IDs of the users and distances between the users and the user X to the client terminal device of the user X if the number of the users is less than or equal to M; and

sending ranked user IDs of top M users and distances between the top M users and the user X to the client terminal device of the user X if the number of the users is larger than M;

wherein M is a positive integer larger than one.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein before receiving the location information of the user X, the method further comprises:

obtaining, by the client terminal device of the user X, the location information of the user X according to any of method one to method three;

wherein method one is a Global Positioning System (GPS) function, method two is a Cell ID of an eNode B and method three is a Media Access Control (MAC) address of a connected Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) access point;

reporting, by the client terminal device of the user X, the location information of the user X if the location information of the user X is successfully obtained with one of the method one to method three; and

obtaining, by the client terminal device of the user X, the location information of the user X with another method of the method one to method three if the location information of the user X is not successfully obtained with the one of method one to method three.

4. A server, comprising:

a processor and a storage;

wherein the storage comprises;

a first processing module and a second processing module, wherein

the first processing module executed by the processor, to divide a surface of the earth into a grid array, in which an area of each grid is the same, and set a list for a grid;

the second processing module executed by the processor, when location information and a user Identification (ID) from a client terminal device of a user X is received, to determine a grid Y, to which the location information belongs, store the user ID, the location information and reporting time of the user X in a list of the grid Y, search for users in the grid Y and other girds, in which the grid Y and the other grids form an N-grid and the grid Y is a center of the N-grid,

N=n*n and n is an odd larger than or equal to 3, rank the users according to distances between the users and the user X and the reporting time of the user X and send the ranked user IDs of the users and distances between the users and the user X to the client terminal device of the user X;

wherein the closer a distance between a user and the user X is, the higher rank of the user is, and the shorter time between the reporting time of the user and a current time is, the higher the rank of the user is;

wherein the ranked user IDs of the users are received by the user X and used by the user X to contact other users;

wherein the second processing module is further executed by the processor to compute a weight A_i=a*D_i+b*T_i of a user i;

wherein a and b are weighting coefficients, D_i is a distance between the user i and the user X, T_i is time between the current time and the reporting time of the user i and rank the users in an ascending order of the weight.

5. The server according to claim 4, wherein the second processing module is further executed by the processor to determine whether number of the users is less than or equal to M after the users are ranked, send the ranked user IDs of the users and distances between the users and the user X to the client terminal device of the user X if the number of the users is less than or equal to M and send ranked user IDs of top M users and distances between the top M users and the user X to the client terminal device of the user X if the number of the users is larger than M;

wherein M is a positive integer larger than one.