Systems and methods for social recommendations

• US 9,558,244 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2015
• Issued: 01/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BLAB Ventures LLC
• Original Assignee: Conversable, Inc. (LivePerson Incorporated)
• Inventors: Jonas, Isao Uchida, Daniels, Douglas James Jr., Busey, Andrew Thomas, Chen, Anthony Dan, Lamm, Benjamin Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALLEN, NICHOLAS E
• Application Number:
  US14/919,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20160117329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 468 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/287 Visualization; Browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Computer-implemented systems, methods, and media for making a recommendation or a non-recommendation to a user comprising: a software module configured to calculate a social distance between a first and a second user; a software module configured to allow the first and the second user to rate a plurality of items using a gamified rating model; a software module configured to analyze a degree of similarity between the first and the second user based on the ratings of the plurality of items by the first and the second user; a software module configured to make a recommendation or a non-recommendation to the first user based on the social distance and the degree of similarity between the first and the second user, and the ratings of the plurality of items; and a software module configured to present the recommendation or non-recommendation in a manner that comprises a ranked list.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for making a recommendation for a user based on the user'"'"'s social relationship and interests comprising:

a. a digital processing device comprising an operating system configured to perform executable instructions and a memory;

b. a computer program including instructions executable by the digital processing device to create a social recommendation application comprising;

i. a software module configured to calculate a social distance between a first user and a second user, wherein the social distance is defined as friend, friend of friend, or nth degree contact, the n being an integer greater than 2 and less than 10;

ii. a software module configured to allow the first user and the second user to rate a plurality of items using a gamified rating model;

iii. a software module configured to analyze a degree of similarity between the first user and the second user based on the first rating of the plurality of items by the first user and the second rating of the plurality of items by the second user;

iv. a software module configured to make a recommendation or a non-recommendation to the first user based on;

1) the social distance between the first user and the second user,

2) the degree of similarity between the first user and the second user,

3) the first rating of the plurality of items by the first user, and

4) the second rating of the plurality of items by the second user; and

v. a software module configured to present the recommendation or non-recommendation to the first user in a manner that comprises a ranked list of items with each item of the ranked list being selected from the plurality of items.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the social distance is obtained from an external social network, an external social graph, a mobile phone contact list, an email contact list, a selection by the first user or the second user, or a rating by the first user or the second user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the social distance is obtained from an internal social network, internal social graph, or internal contact list of a social recommendation application.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the social distance is a finite number that is monotonically non-decreasing with the increase of the number of degree of contact.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first rating or the second rating of the plurality of items further comprises a pre-check of impression regarding an item from the plurality of items, the item being not directly experienced by the first user or the second user, wherein the impression comprises one selected from:

have not tried but definitely want to, have not tried but want to, have not tried and not sure, have not tried because never heard of it, and have not tried because of a negative predisposition.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first rating or the second rating of the plurality of items further comprises one or more selected from:

a text review, a review video, and a review audio.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the gamified rating model uses one or more games selected from:

a) an A/B test, wherein two different items from the plurality of items are shown, and the first user or the second user is asked to select one item over the other item;

b) an up, down, or pass vote, wherein an item from the plurality of item is shown together with a question, and the first user or the second user is asked to select yes or no to the question regarding the item;

c) an hate, like, or love vote, wherein an item from the plurality of item is shown together with a question, and the first user or the second user is asked to select hate, don'"'"'t like, like, love, or haven'"'"'t watched to the question regarding the item;

d) a sort and edit of a rated list, wherein a subset or a full set of the plurality of items are shown in the rated list, and the first user or the second user sorts and/or removes one or more items in the rated list, the rated list being generated using one or more selected from;

a statistical algorithm, a mathematical algorithm, a numerical algorithm, or an empirical algorithm; and

e) a direct sourcing by the first user or the second user from one or more non-self users, wherein a direct recommendation regarding an item from the plurality of items is solicited from one or more non-self users.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of items are related to the interests of the first user or the second user.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein each item of the plurality of items is associated with one or more categories, wherein the one or more categories are selected from:

movies, TV shows, sport teams, musics, clubs, music bands, restaurants, bars, mobile applications, books, online videos, images, articles, games, sports, electronics, people, and dating.

10. The system of claim 1 comprising a software module to allow the first user to filter out one or more ratings of an item in the plurality of items by another user using one or more predetermined criteria.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the degree of similarity is one selected from:

aligned, slightly aligned, neutral, slightly opposed, or opposed.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the degree of similarity is calculated using one or more selected from:

a statistical algorithm, a mathematical algorithm, a numerical algorithm, or an empirical algorithm.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the degree of similarity is calculated with an independent weighting or a dependent weighting for the rating of each item from the plurality of items.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the degree of similarity is further analyzed based on a subset of the plurality of items, the further analysis based on a first rating of the subset of the plurality of items by the first user and the second rating of the subset of plurality of items by the second user using the gamified rating model.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the degree of similarity is further analyzed based on one or more items from the plurality of items within a same category, wherein the same category is selected from:

movies, TV shows, sport teams, musics, clubs, music bands, restaurants, bars, mobile applications, books, online videos, images, articles, games, sports, electronics, people, and dating.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the degree of similarity is indicated by one or more colors, wherein green indicates aligned, grey indicate neutral, and red indicate opposed.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the social recommendation application further comprises a software module configured to allow the first user to select and send one or more questions to the second user regarding the recommendation or the non-recommendation.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the social recommendation application further comprises a software module configured to receive one or more predetermined responses from the second user to one or more questions regarding the recommendation or the non-recommendation.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation or non-recommendation is further based on one or more ratings selected from Rotten Tomatos, Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, Orbitz, and Yahoo.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the recommendation application further comprises a software module configured to solicit a second recommendation or non-recommendation from one or more non-self users.

21. The system of claim 1 comprising a software module to make a second recommendation or non-recommendation to the first user, wherein the second recommendation or non-recommendation comprises a second ranked list of items based on the rating of the plurality of items of items by one or more users that are friend or friend of friend with the first user.

22. The system of claim 1 comprising a software module to propagate the recommendation or the non-recommendation to a third user, wherein the degree of similarity of the first and the third user is above a first predetermined threshold and the social distance between the first and the third user is above a second predetermined threshold.

23. The system of claim 1 comprising a software module to allow the first user or the second user to incorporate user generated content regarding an item from the plurality of items.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the user generated content comprises a url, an image, a video, a text, an audio regarding an item from the plurality of items.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the software module configured to make the recommendation or the non-recommendation to the first user further based on one or more item descriptive tags selected from:

a genre, a price, a director, a cast, a location, a release date, a language, a film duration, and a movie classification.

26. The system of claim 1 comprising a software module to allow the first user to search for recommendations or non-recommendations regarding an item, wherein the search results are from users that are within a predetermined social distance to the first user.

27. The system of claim 1 comprising a software module to allow a user to add or edit a profile, wherein the profile comprises one or more selected from:

one or more categories of interests, one or more recommendations or non-recommendations by a non-self user, information of one or more followers;

information of one or more following users, a link to each follower'"'"'s profile, and a link to each following user'"'"'s profile.

28. A computer-implemented system for making a recommendation for a group of users based on the group of users'"'"' social relationship and interests comprising:

a) a digital processing device comprising an operating system configured to perform executable instructions and a memory;

b) a computer program including instructions executable by the digital processing device to create a social recommendation application comprising;

i) a software module configured to calculate an average social distance between each member of the group of users and a non-group user, wherein the average social distance is defined as nth degree contact, the n being a finite number no less than 1 and less than 10, and the non-group user being different from each member of the group of users;

ii) a software module configured to allow each member of the group of users and the non-group user to rate, using a gamified rating model, a plurality of items by each member of the group of users and the non-group user;

iii) a software module configured to analyze a degree of similarity between each member of the group of users and the non-group user based on two or more rating of the plurality of items, wherein each rating of the plurality of items are by each member of the group of user, and a non-group rating of the plurality of items by the non-group user; and

iv) a software module configured to make a recommendation or a non-recommendation to the group of users based on

1) the average social distance between the group of users and the user,

2) the degree of similarity between the group of users and the user, and

3) the two or more ratings of the plurality of items, wherein each rating of the plurality of items are by each member of the group of users, and

4) the non-group rating of the plurality of items by the non-group users; and

v) a software module configured to present the recommendation or non-recommendation to the group of users in a manner that comprises a ranked list of items with each item of the ranked list being selected from the plurality of items.

29. Non-transitory computer-readable storage media encoded with a computer program including instructions executable by a processor to create a social recommendation application comprising:

a) a software module configured to calculate a social distance between a first user and a second user, wherein the social distance is defined as friend, friend of friend, or nth degree contact, the n being an integer greater than 2 and less than 10;

b) a software module configured to allow the first user and the second user to rate a plurality of items using a gamified rating model;

c) a software module configured to analyze a degree of similarity between the first user and the second user based on the first rating of the plurality of items by the first user and the second rating of the plurality of items by the second user; and

d) a software module configured to make a recommendation or a non-recommendation to the first user based on

i) the social distance between the first user and the second user,

ii) the degree of similarity between the first user and the second user,

iii) the first rating of the plurality of items by the first user, and

iv) the second rating of the plurality of items by the second user; and

e) a software module configured to present the recommendation or non-recommendation to the first user in a manner that comprises a ranked list of items with each item of the ranked list being selected from the plurality of items.

30. Non-transitory computer-readable storage media encoded with a computer program including instructions executable by a processor to create a social recommendation application comprising:

a) a software module configured to calculate an average social distance between each member of the group of users and a non-group user, wherein the average social distance is defined as nth degree contact, the n being a finite number no less than 1 and less than 10, and the non-group user being different from each member of the group of users;

b) a software module configured to allow each member of the group of users and the non-group user to rate, using a gamified rating model, a plurality of items by each member of the group of users and the non-group user;

c) a software module configured to analyze a degree of similarity between each member of the group of users and the non-group user based on two or more rating of the plurality of items, wherein each rating of the plurality of items are by each member of the group of user, and a non-group rating of the plurality of items by the non-group user; and

d) a software module configured to make a recommendation or a non-recommendation to the group of users based on

i) the average social distance between the group of users and the user,

ii) the degree of similarity between the group of users and the user, and

iii) the two or more ratings of the plurality of items, wherein each rating of the plurality of items are by each member of the group of users, and

iv) the non-group rating of the plurality of items by the non-group user,

e) a software module configured to present the recommendation or non-recommendation to the group of users in a manner that comprises a ranked list of items with each item of the ranked list being selected from the plurality of items.