Activity graphs

• US 9,942,334 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2013
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Giacobbe, Gail, Aziz, Imran, Porras Luraschi, Javier, Rogers, March, Gitenstein, Benjamin B.
• Primary Examiner(s): BAROT, BHARAT
• Application Number:
  US13/754,899
• Publication Number:
  US 20140214937A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,895 Days
• Field of Search: 709220, 709222, 709202-206, 709223-224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

The description relates to activity graphs. One example can obtain details from multiple activity cards. The example can identify relationships between at least some of the details of the multiple activity cards. The example can also generate an activity graph that reflects at least some of the relationships between individual activity cards.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

store a set of previous activity cards containing previous activity details of previous activities, the previous activity details identifying participants in the previous activities, geographic locations of the previous activities, and discussions by the participants about the previous activities;

generate an activity graph of the previous activity cards, the activity graph comprising edges between respective previous activity cards with shared previous activity details;

utilize natural language processing to perform a discussion analysis of the discussions by the participants about the previous activities; and

generate a suggested activity card for an individual participant based at least on the discussion analysis and the activity graph, the suggested activity card identifying an upcoming activity scheduled to occur at a particular geographic location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

assign prognostic values to the edges of the activity graph, the prognostic values reflecting respective strengths of relationships between the respective previous activity cards connected by the edges.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

identify semantically equivalent information present in respective previous activity details of at least two different previous activity cards; and

determine an individual prognostic value for an individual edge connecting the at least two different previous activity cards based at least on the semantically equivalent information.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least two different previous activity cards connected by the individual edge have user entries expressed in different terms that are semantically equivalent.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

filter the set of previous activity cards to identify a filtered subset of previous activity cards that relate to a specific type of previous activity; and

generate the activity graph from the filtered subset.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

filter the set of previous activity cards to identify a filtered subset of previous activity cards for previous activities in which the individual participant took part; and

generate the activity graph from the filtered subset.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

generate a graphical user interface (GUI) that includes the suggested activity card identifying the upcoming activity and the particular geographic location where the upcoming activity is scheduled to occur.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

present the GUI on a device associated with the individual participant or send the GUI to the device associated with the individual participant for presentation.

9. The system of claim 1, implemented on a single device.

10. A method comprising:

storing a set of previous activity cards containing previous activity details of previous activities, the previous activity details identifying participants in the previous activities and geographic locations of the previous activities;

generating an activity graph from the previous activity cards, the activity graph comprising edges between respective previous activity cards with shared previous activity details;

assigning edge values to individual edges of the activity graph, the edge values reflecting relative strength of relationships between individual previous activity cards connected by the individual edges;

analyzing the activity graph to identify a suggested future activity and a suggested geographic location for the suggested future activity;

generating a suggested activity card identifying the suggested future activity and the suggested geographic location; and

causing the suggested activity card to be output on a personal device of an individual user.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving an indication from the individual user indicating acceptance of the suggested activity card; and

based at least on the activity graph and the acceptance of the suggested activity card, identifying another suggested future activity for the individual user and provide another suggested activity card identifying the another suggested future activity to the individual user.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

checking a personal calendar of the individual user;

identifying an open time on the personal calendar; and

scheduling the suggested future activity at the identified open time,

the suggested activity card identifying the identified open time from the personal calendar as a scheduled time of the suggested future activity.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

obtaining a location of the individual user from the personal device of the individual user; and

determining the suggested geographic location based at least in part on the location obtained from the personal device of the individual user.

14. The method of claim 10, performed by a server located remotely from the personal device of the individual user.

15. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

store a set of previous activity cards containing previous activity details of previous activities, the previous activity details identifying participants in the previous activities and geographic locations of the previous activities;

filter the set of previous activity cards to identify a filtered subset of previous activity cards that involve a particular type of activity;

generate an activity graph from the filtered subset of previous activity cards, the activity graph comprising edges between respective previous activity cards that share previous activity details;

analyze the activity graph to identify a suggested participant in a suggested future activity of the particular type;

generate a suggested activity card identifying the suggested future activity; and

cause the suggested activity card to be output on a mobile device of the suggested participant.

16. The system of claim 15, provided on the mobile device of the suggested participant.

17. The system of claim 15, provided on a server located remotely from the mobile device of the suggested participant.

18. The system of claim 15, the particular type of activity being a physical exercise activity involving multiple participants.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

assign prognostic values to the edges of the activity graph, the prognostic values reflecting relationships between different activity cards connected by the edges; and

use the prognostic values in analysis of the activity graph to identify the suggested participant.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

obtain search results that are responsive to a search query that identifies an individual geographic location of an individual previous activity; and

rank the search results based at least on information in the activity graph relating to the individual geographic location.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

generate the activity graph by identifying two different activity cards that have the same value for a particular activity detail and connecting the two different activity cards with a particular edge of the activity graph.