Systems and methods associated with collective contact information

• US 10,560,413 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2017
• Issued: 02/11/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Fin Exploration Company
• Original Assignee: The Fin Exploration Company
• Inventors: DeVillers, Nicole, Graham, John, Kortina, Andrew, Lessin, Samuel
• Primary Examiner(s): Tang, Karen C
• Application Number:
  US15/415,729
• Publication Number:
  US 20180212910A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: 709207
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/105 Human resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for a collective address book system. One of the methods includes: receiving, at the system, a request from a user regarding a topic; selecting automatically, at the system, a potential referrer, the potential referrer selection being based on the likelihood that the potential referrer will respond to the user'"'"'s request; and communicating automatically with the potential referrer regarding the user'"'"'s request without the system indicating to the user that the potential referrer has been contacted.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices on which are stored instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

(a) receiving, at a user interaction engine of the system, a request from a user regarding a topic;

(b) selecting automatically, at the system, a potential referrer, the potential referrer selection being based on the likelihood that the potential referrer will respond to the user'"'"'s request;

(c) determining a contact method to reach the potential referrer, the contact method including contact information, the contact method being determined based at least in part on (i) how many other users have the contact information for the contact method in their address books and (ii) how recently the contact method has been used successfully; and

(d) at the user interaction engine of the system, communicating automatically with the potential referrer, who is a direct contact of the user, regarding the user'"'"'s request without the system indicating to the user that the potential referrer, who is a direct contact of the user, has been contacted, wherein communicating automatically with the potential referrer comprises communicating with the potential referrer using the contact method.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the topic is a person of interest.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the selection of the potential referrer is based on the potential referrer'"'"'s relationship to the user and the person of interest.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the selection of the potential referrer is based on the potential referrer'"'"'s prior response rate to referral requests.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the selection of the potential referrer is based on the potential referrer'"'"'s availability at the time of selection.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein communicating with the potential referrer comprises communicating with a plurality of potential referrers according to an order.

7. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising

(a) receiving, at the system, a response from the referrer;

and

(b) informing the user of the identity of the referrer.

8. A computer-implemented method in a collective address system, the method comprising:

(a) receiving, at a user interaction engine of the system, a request from a user regarding a topic;

(b) selecting automatically, at the system, a potential referrer, the potential referrer selection being based on the likelihood that the potential referrer will respond to the user'"'"'s request;

(c) determining a contact method to reach the potential referrer, the contact method including contact information, the contact method being determined based at least in part on (i) how many other users have the contact information for the contact method in their address books and (ii) how recently the contact method has been used successfully; and

(d) at the user interaction engine of the system, communicating automatically with the potential referrer, who is a direct contact of the user, regarding the user'"'"'s request without the system indicating to the user that the potential referrer, who is a direct contact of the user, has been contacted, wherein communicating automatically with the potential referrer comprises communicating with the potential referrer using the contact method.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the topic is a person of interest.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the selection of the potential referrer is based on the potential referrer'"'"'s relationship to the user and the person of interest.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the person of interest is someone other than a user of the method.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the selection of the potential referrer is based on the potential referrer'"'"'s prior response rate to referral requests.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the selection of the potential referrer is based on the potential referrer'"'"'s availability at the time of selection.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein selecting a potential referrer comprises selecting substantially concurrently a plurality of potential referrers.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, the method further comprising (a) receiving, at the system, a response from the referrer;

and

(b) informing the user of the identity of the referrer.

16. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by one or more computers, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

(a) receiving, at a user interaction engine of the system, a request from a first user regarding a second user of the system;

(b) selecting automatically, at the system, a referrer, the referrer selection being based on the likelihood that the referrer will respond to the first user'"'"'s request;

(c) determining a contact method to reach the potential referrer, the contact method including contact information, the contact method being determined based at least in part on (i) how many other users have the contact information for the contact method in their address books and (ii) how recently the contact method has been used successfully; and

(d) at the user interaction engine of the system, communicating automatically with the referrer, who is a direct contact of the user, regarding the first user'"'"'s request without the system indicating to the first user that the referrer, who is a direct contact of the user, has been contacted, wherein communicating automatically with the potential referrer comprises communicating with the potential referrer using the contact method.

17. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices on which are stored instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

(a) receiving, at a user interaction engine of the system, a request from a user for a referral to a person of interest;

(b) selecting automatically, at the system, a potential referrer that is connected to the user, the potential referrer selection being based on the likelihood that the potential referrer will respond to the user'"'"'s request;

(c) providing to the user a recommended contact method for contacting the person of interest, the recommended contact method including contact information, the recommended contact method being based at least in part on (i) how many other users have the recommended contact information in their address books and (ii) how recently the recommended contact method has been used successfully; and

(d) at the user interaction engine of the system, communicating with the potential referrer using the recommended contact method regarding the user'"'"'s request without the system indicating to the user that the potential referrer has been contacted.