Computational systems and methods for disambiguating search terms corresponding to network members

• US 9,141,977 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Lord, Robert W., Dyor, Matthew G., Myhrvold, Nathan P., Lu, Qi, Gates, William, Nadella, Satya, Davis, Marc E., Malamud, Mark A., Huang, Xuedong, Reed, Daniel, Hyde, Roderick A., Shum, Harry, Jung, Edward K. Y., Tegreene, Clarence T., Levien, Royce A., Wood, JR., Lowell L., Lord, Richard T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Parry, Chris
• Assistant Examiner(s): STILTNER, WEIWEI YE
• Application Number:
  US13/200,810
• Publication Number:
  US 20130060759A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,453 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-206, 704/270.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/342 between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, computer program products, devices and systems are described that carry out accepting at least one search term corresponding to at least one member of a network; disambiguating the at least one search term including associating the at least one search term with at least one of network-participation identifier data or device-identifier data; and presenting a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system comprising:

electronic circuitry including at least;

a primary query data acceptor module configured to accept at least one search term corresponding to at least one member of a network; and

a disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to;

(1) search one or more identity databases for associations between at least a portion of the network-participation identifier data and a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases, and (2) associate at least network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases based at least partially on at least one of a web history tracking, a content tracking, or an app list tracking.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the primary query data acceptor module further comprises at least one of a name query acceptor module or a number query acceptor module.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit further comprises an ancillary query data acceptor module.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the ancillary query data acceptor module further comprises at least one of a device-identifier acceptor module, a network-participation identifier data acceptor module, or a search locus data acceptor module.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the identity prediction module further comprises at least one of a de-anonymization module, a real-name profiling module, or an app data tracking module.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit further comprises a subscriber database.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the subscriber database includes a cross-carrier subscriber database.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit further comprises at least one of filter logic, ranking logic, or correction logic.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the filter logic is configured to filter search results based on at least one of shared network participation, shared location, or shared device attribute.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the ranking logic is configured to rank search results based on at least one of degree of shared network participation, degree of shared location, or degree of shared device attribute.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the correction logic is configured to detect at least one possible error in a search term entered by a user at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the correction logic is configured to suggest at least one alternative to a search term entered by a user at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to search one or more identity databases for associations between at least a portion of the network-participation identifier data and a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases comprises;

a disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to search one or more identity databases for matches between a subscriber'"'"'s username and profile data.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to search one or more identity databases for associations between at least a portion of the network-participation identifier data and a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases comprises;

a disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to search one or more publicly available records for matches between at least network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to search one or more identity databases for associations between at least a portion of the network-participation identifier data and a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases comprises;

a disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to associate at least network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases based at least partially on geographic location of the verifiable real-world user including at least one of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, city and street address, or GPS tracking.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to search one or more identity databases for associations between at least a portion of the network-participation identifier data and a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases comprises;

a disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to associate at least network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases based at least partially on association of the at least one search term with at least one entry in an inter-service-provider director of device-associated users.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the primary query data acceptor module configured to accept at least one search term corresponding to at least one member of a network includes at least one of:

circuitry for accepting a name corresponding to at least one member of a network;

circuitry for accepting at least one of a first name, a last name, a nickname, a username, or a name including initials corresponding to at least one member of a network;

or

circuitry for accepting at least one of a physical address, an email address, or a web address corresponding to at least one member of a network.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes at least one of:

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with device-identifier data corresponding to at least one of a mobile phone, a wired telephone, a voice-over-internet-protocol telephone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, or a networked television;

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with device-identifier data including a telephone number associated with a telephony device;

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with device-identifier data including subscriber identity module data or integrated circuit card identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device;

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with device-identifier data including mobile equipment identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device;

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with device-identifier data including international mobile equipment identity data corresponding to at least one communication device;

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with device-identifier data including international mobile subscriber identity data corresponding to at least one communication device;

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with device-identifier data including electronic serial number data corresponding to at least one communication device;

or

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with a real-world user associated with at least one communication device.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes at least:

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with device-identifier data including device-identifier data corresponding to at least one communication device that is linked to at least one billing account, wherein the at least one billing account includes at least one of a cable telecommunications billing account, a wireless telecommunications billing account, a satellite telecommunications billing account, a credit card account, a virtual account, or an electronic payment account, wherein the electronic payment account includes at least one of a Google Checkout account, an Amazon Payments account, a PayPal account, or a mobile PayPal account.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes at least:

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with email data corresponding to at least one user of at least one communication device, wherein the email data includes at least one of a simple mail transfer protocol-compatible email address or an email alias.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes at least one of:

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with network-participation identifier data associated with at least one of a user'"'"'s social security number, a user'"'"'s national identification card, a user'"'"'s biometric measurement, a user'"'"'s passport number, a user'"'"'s tax identification number, a user'"'"'s internet domain, or a user'"'"'s authentication certificate;

or

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with social networking data, wherein the social networking data includes at least one of a username, an @-tagged twitter handle, a corporate login, a website uniform resource locator, Facebook data, Twitter data, LinkedIn data, image data, constellation of social contact data, user input data, data accumulated from multiple sources, data used to create additional data, or data used to find additional data.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes at least one of:

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with data indicating the origin of input of the at least one search term, wherein the data indicating the origin of input of the at least one search term includes at least one of internet protocol address data, data derived from cellular phone tower proximity, data derived from Wi-Fi use, data derived from user-entered location data, data derived from proximity to at least one other device, data derived from a detected vehicle use, data derived from a detected user activity, or data derived from a detected user location;

or

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least one entry in an inter-service-provider directory of device-associated users.

23. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the primary query data acceptor module configured to accept at least one search term corresponding to at least one member of a network or the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes at least one of:

circuitry for accepting from Facebook a username associated with a verified real-world user having an iPhone and associating the username with a corresponding account with a telecommunications company;

circuitry for accepting from LinkedIn a name of a person associated with a videoconferencing device and associating the name with a corresponding account with WebEx Web conferencing;

circuitry for accepting from Google an email address of a person associated with an Android phone and associating the email address with a corresponding account with a wireless carrier;

circuitry for accepting an iTunes username associated with a user with a valid credit card and a security code as the network-participation identifier data associated with a verified real-world user associated with the at least one communication device, and assigning a unique identifier to the device and username pair;

or

circuitry for accepting an Outlook email address associated with a user with a verified biometric measurement as the network-participation identifier data associated with a verified real-world user associated with the at least one communication device, and assigning a unique identifier to the computer and email address pair.

24. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes:

circuitry for associating the at least one search term with a real-world user associated with at least one communication device including at least one of circuitry for performing the association using identity prediction, circuitry for performing the association using de-anonymization, circuitry for performing the association using real-name profiling, circuitry for performing the association using web history tracking, circuitry for performing the association using media content tracking, or circuitry for performing the association using app data tracking.

25. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes:

circuitry for verifying identity of a real-world user associated with a communication device including at least one of;

circuitry for associating the network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device using at least one of identity prediction, de-anonymization, or real-name profiling;

circuitry for associating the network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device using at least one of web history tracking, media content tracking, or application data tracking;

circuitry for associating the network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device using at least one of a list of social contacts from a social network or a list of email contacts grouped as friends or family from an email contact list;

or

circuitry for associating the network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device using at least one of a signifier of belonging in a network, an email address, a username, a social networking user name;

a mark, an image, a number, or a writing that signifies participation in a particular network.

26. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes at least:

circuitry for verifying identity of a real-world user associated with a communication device including at least one of;

circuitry for accepting from LinkedIn a name of a person associated with a videoconferencing device and a corresponding account with a videoconferencing service;

or

circuitry for accepting from Google an email address of a person associated with an Android phone and a corresponding account with a wireless carrier.

27. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes at least:

circuitry for verifying identity of a real-world user associated with a communication device including at least;

circuitry for associating the network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device using at least one of a user'"'"'s social security number, a user'"'"'s national identification card, a user'"'"'s biometric measurement, a user'"'"'s passport number, a user'"'"'s tax identification number, a user'"'"'s internet domain, or a user'"'"'s authentication certificate.

28. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes at least:

circuitry for verifying identity of a real-world user associated with a communication device including at least one of;

circuitry for searching identity databases for matches to a network-participation subscriber'"'"'s username or profile data;

circuitry for searching public databases for verification that a real-world user is associated with an email address;

or

circuitry for searching at least one of motor vehicle records or real estate records for verification that a real-world user is associated with an email address.

29. The system of claim 1 wherein the disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data includes at least:

circuitry for verifying identity of a real-world user associated with a communication device including at least;

circuitry for matching an email address of a person with a device ID from the a phone and associating the email address and the phone.

30. A computer-implemented system comprising:

electronic circuitry including at least;

a primary query data acceptor module configured to accept at a user interface at least one search term corresponding to at least one member of a network; and

a disambiguation unit configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to;

(1) search one or more identity databases for associations between at least a portion of the network-participation identifier data and a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases, and (2) associate at least network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases based at least partially on at least one of a web history tracking, a content tracking, or an app list tracking.

31. A computer-implemented system comprising:

electronic circuitry including at least;

a primary query data acceptor module operative on a computational platform, wherein the primary query data acceptor module is configured to accept at least one search term corresponding to at least one member of a network; and

a disambiguation unit operative on a computational platform, wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to disambiguate the at least one search term including at least circuitry for associating the at least one search term with at least network-participation identifier data and device-identifier data;

wherein the disambiguation unit is configured to present a disambiguated search term at least partly based on at least one of the network-participation identifier data or the device-identifier data and wherein the disambiguation unit includes at least an identity prediction module configured to;

(1) search one or more identity databases for associations between at least a portion of the network-participation identifier data and a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases, and (2) associate at least network-participation identifier data with a real-world user associated with a communication device whose identity is verifiable using the one or more identity databases based at least partially on at least one of a web history tracking, a content tracking, or an app list tracking.