Systems and methods for using social-networking accounts to identify characteristics that strangers share in common

• US 9,396,498 B1
• Filed: 11/22/2011
• Issued: 07/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gen Digital Inc.
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhu, Xiaole, Tian, Xue Feng, McCorkendale, Bruce
• Primary Examiner(s): Greene, Joseph
• Application Number:
  US13/302,753
• Time in Patent Office: 1,701 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A computer-implemented method may include facilitating registration for a service capable of determining whether strangers who come in contact with one another share one or more characteristics in common. The computer-implemented method may also include obtaining, as part of the registration for the service, permission for the service to access at least a portion of one or more social-networking accounts associated with each of the strangers. The computer-implemented method may further include determining, subsequent to the registration for the service, that the strangers registered for the service have come in contact with one another and then providing the service to the strangers in response to this determination. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for using social-networking accounts to identify characteristics that strangers share in common, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising:

facilitating registration for a service capable of determining whether strangers who come in physical proximity to one another share one or more characteristics in common;

as part of the registration for the service, obtaining permission for the service to access at least a portion of a plurality of social-networking accounts associated with each of the strangers;

subsequent to the registration for the service, determining that the strangers registered for the service have come in physical proximity to one another;

in response to the determination that the strangers registered for the service have come in physical proximity to one another, providing the service to the strangers by;

analyzing personal information about the strangers accessible via the social-networking accounts associated with the strangers by implementing a machine learning technique to;

divide at least a portion of the personal information;

reform the portion of the personal information into informational components by identifying different nomenclatural categories that include the portion of personal information across the social-networking accounts, the different nomenclatural categories representing commensurate categories of information;

treat the informational components reformed from the different nomenclatural categories as representing commensurate categories of information;

determining, based on the analysis of the personal information about the strangers, that the strangers share a plurality of characteristics in common;

computing, based on the analysis of the personal information about the strangers, a commonality score that represents the level of commonality between the strangers;

providing characteristics information indicating that the strangers share each of the plurality of characteristics in common to one or more computing devices associated with one or more of the strangers to facilitate presentation of the characteristics information to the strangers upon coming in physical proximity to one another such that the strangers are able to view and learn each of the plurality of characteristics that the strangers share in common and the level of commonality between the strangers, wherein the characteristics information includes the commonality score that represents the level of commonality between the strangers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining permission for the service to access the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts comprises:

obtaining one or more usernames associated with the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts;

obtaining one or more passwords associated with the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts;

enabling the service to access the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts by entering the usernames and passwords associated with the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts are associated with a plurality of different social-networking platforms.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, subsequent to the registration for the service:

accessing the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts to obtain the personal information about the strangers;

storing a copy of the personal information in a storage device associated with the service to facilitate analyzing the personal information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the personal information accessible via the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts comprises comparing the informational components reformed from the personal information about the strangers.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining whether the strangers share characteristics in common comprises, upon comparing the informational components reformed from the personal information about the strangers, identifying at least one pattern of informational components that is common to each of the strangers.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein providing the characteristics information to the strangers'"'"' computing devices comprises configuring the characteristics information by:

identifying the informational components that represent the common pattern;

reforming the informational components that represent the common pattern to facilitate presentation of the informational components that represent the common pattern to the strangers upon coming in physical proximity to one another.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the service comprises implementing a data mining technique that provides at least a portion of the service.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the strangers registered for the service have come in physical proximity to one another comprises detecting an in-person encounter between the strangers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the strangers registered for the service have come in physical proximity to one another comprises at least one of:

determining that a computing device associated with a particular stranger is located physically proximate to a different computing device associated with a different stranger;

receiving a communication manually initiated by at least one of the strangers that indicates that the strangers have come in physical proximity to one another.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining that the computing device is located physically proximate to the different computing device comprises using a transponder associated with the computing device and a different transponder associated with the different computing device to determine that the computing device is located physically proximate to the different computing device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the transponder and the different transponder each comprise at least one of:

a near field communication (“

NFC”

) technology;

a radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) technology;

a contactless smart card technology;

a Bluetooth technology.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics that the strangers share in common comprise at least one of:

a common friend;

a common acquaintance;

a common employer;

a common profession;

a common school;

a common place of residence;

a common online follower;

a common person being followed online;

a common religion;

a common relationship status;

a common political affiliation;

a common conference;

a common check-in location;

a common association with a particular organization;

a common association with a particular social-networking platform;

a common business connection;

a common musical interest;

a common favorite book;

a common favorite movie;

a common favorite musical artist;

a common favorite television show;

a common favorite game;

a common favorite activity;

a common favorite athlete;

a common hobby.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics information includes a heat map that graphically represents the level of commonality between the strangers;

further comprising generating, based on the analysis of the personal information about the strangers, the heat map by coloring different regions of a multi-dimensional table to indicate varying degrees of commonality across different areas of interest.

14. A system for using social-networking accounts to identify characteristics that strangers share in common, the system comprising:

a memory device that stores;

a registration module that;

facilitates registration for a service capable of determining whether strangers who come in physical proximity to one another share one or more characteristics in common;

obtains, as part of the registration for the service, permission for the service to access at least a portion of a plurality of social-networking accounts associated with each of the strangers;

a service module that;

determines, subsequent to the registration for the service, that the strangers registered for the service have come in physical proximity to one another;

provides the service to the strangers in response to the determination by;

analyzing personal information about the strangers accessible via the social-networking accounts associated with the strangers by implementing a machine learning technique to;

divide at least a portion of the personal information;

reform the portion into informational components by identifying different nomenclatural categories that include the portion of personal information across the social-networking accounts, the different nomenclatural categories representing commensurate categories of information;

treat the informational components reformed from the different nomenclatural categories as representing commensurate categories of information;

determining, based on the analysis of the personal information about the strangers, that the strangers share a plurality of characteristics in common;

computing, based on the analysis of the personal information about the strangers, a commonality score that represents the level of commonality between the strangers;

providing characteristics information indicating that the strangers share each of the plurality of characteristics in common to one or more computing devices associated with one or more of the strangers to facilitate presentation of the characteristics information to the strangers upon coming in physical proximity to one another such that the strangers are able to view and learn each of the plurality of characteristics that the strangers share in common and the level of commonality between the strangers, wherein the characteristics information includes the commonality score that represents the level of commonality between the strangers;

at least one physical processor that executes the registration module and the service module stored in the memory device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the registration module stored in the memory device and executed by the physical processor:

obtains one or more usernames associated with the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts;

obtains one or more passwords associated with the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts;

enables the service to access the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts by entering the usernames and passwords associated with the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the strangers'"'"' social-networking accounts are associated with a plurality of different social-networking platforms.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the service module stored in the memory device and executed by the physical processor provides the service by at least one of:

determining that a computing device associated with a particular stranger is located physically proximate to a different computing device associated with a different stranger;

receiving a communication manually initiated by at least one of the strangers that indicates that the strangers have come in physical proximity to one another.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable-storage medium comprising one or more computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

facilitate registration for a service capable of determining whether strangers who come in physical proximity to one another share one or more characteristics in common;

obtain, as part of the registration for the service, permission for the service to access at least a portion of a plurality of social-networking accounts associated with each of the strangers;

determine, subsequent to the registration for the service, that the strangers registered for the service have come in physical proximity to one another;

provide the service to the strangers in response to the determination by;

analyzing personal information about the strangers accessible via the social-networking accounts associated with the strangers by implementing a machine learning technique to;

divide at least a portion of the personal information;

reform the portion into informational components by identifying different nomenclatural categories that include the portion of personal information across the social-networking accounts, the different nomenclatural categories representing commensurate categories of information;

treat the informational components reformed from the different nomenclatural categories as representing commensurate categories of information;

determining, based on the analysis of the personal information about the strangers, that the strangers share a plurality of characteristics in common;

computing, based on the analysis of the personal information about the strangers, a commonality score that represents the level of commonality between the strangers;

providing characteristics information indicating that the strangers share each of the plurality of characteristics in common to one or more computing devices associated with one or more of the strangers to facilitate presentation of the characteristics information to the strangers upon coming in physical proximity to one another such that the strangers are able to view and learn each of the plurality of characteristics that the strangers share in common and the level of commonality between the strangers, wherein the characteristics information includes the commonality score that represents the level of commonality between the strangers.