System and method for classification of communication sessions in a social network

• US 9,195,996 B1
• Filed: 12/27/2006
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VideoLabs, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Walsh, Richard, Amidon, Christopher, Issa, Alfredo
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phuoc
• Assistant Examiner(s): Belani, Kishin G
• Application Number:
  US11/645,854
• Time in Patent Office: 3,254 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 707/737
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A system and method for generating a profile of communication sessions involves generating ratings for a selected set of messages and metadata associated with content items that are shared by social network users participating in a communication session. Ratings may be based on keyword scores which may then be adjusted based on user participation parameters, social network characterization parameters, and user selected options. Communication session profiles change over time and so recomputation is effected on periodic or scheduled bases. Generated profiles may be stored, frequently retrieved, or used in applications such as but not limited to content filtering, recommending content shared by participating social network members, selecting relevant advertisements, providing topic suggestions or user list invitations.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for characterizing a communication session comprising:

receiving messages and content items sent during a communication session between a first user and a second user in a social network;

analyzing keywords associated with the messages and metadata associated with the content items to determine an initial rating of the received messages and content items;

adjusting the initial rating based on;

a contribution level of the first user in the communication session;

a consumption level of the content items;

an amount of time the first user has participated in the social network; and

a number of users that consumed at least a portion of a content item contributed by one of the first or second users;

characterizing the communication session based on the adjusted initial rating.

2. A computer implemented method for characterizing a communication session comprising:

receiving messages and content items sent during a communication session between a first user and a second user in a social network;

analyzing keywords associated with the messages and metadata associated with the content items to determine an initial rating of the received messages and content items;

adjusting the initial rating based on;

a contribution level of the first user in the communication session;

a consumption level of the content items, wherein the consumption level is based on a number of users separate from the first user and the second user who have consumed the content items; and

an amount of time the first user has participated in the social network;

characterizing the communication session based on the adjusted initial rating.

3. A computer implemented method for characterizing a communication session comprising:

receiving messages and content items sent during a communication session between a first user and a second user in a social network;

analyzing keywords associated with the messages and metadata associated with the content items;

determining frequency of occurrence of both the keywords and the metadata associated with the content items, where analyzing the keywords and the metadata and determining the frequency of occurrence of both the keywords and the metadata are used to determine an initial rating of the received messages and content items;

adjusting the initial rating based on;

a contribution level of the first user in the communication session;

a consumption level of the content items by third party users, where greater consumption of the content items increases the initial rating and lower consumption of the content decreases the initial rating;

an amount of time the first user has participated in the social network;

a participation factor of either the first user or the second user who contributed the messages or content items where the participation factor is calculated based on the number of messages sent by either the first user or the second user;

a social network distance between the first user and the second user; and

characterizing the communication session based on the adjusted initial rating.