Social network grouping method and system, and computer storage medium

• US 11,032,391 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2019
• Issued: 06/08/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Original Assignee: Tencent Technology Company Limited (Tencent Holdings Limited)
• Inventors: Liu, Yuewen, Chen, Chuan, He, Peng, Mai, Junming, Li, Yuhuang, Chen, Weihua
• Primary Examiner(s): Ndiaye, Cheikh T
• Application Number:
  US16/573,977
• Publication Number:
  US 20200014775A1
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A method, system and computer-readable storage medium for grouping users of an online social network application are provided. The method includes: acquiring friend relation data of a first user, the friend relation data comprising one or more friend nodes; determining a weight of each of the friend nodes based on the friend relation data acquired; forming a first friend circle with a first friend node having a greatest weight among the friend nodes; traversing the friend nodes to find an optimum friend of the first friend circle; adding the optimum friend into the first friend circle; and repeating the traversing and adding until all optimum friends of the first friend circle are added into the first friend circle. The method determines the weight of each friend node based on the friend relation data and performs grouping by the weights, which is able to conduct as mart grouping with high speed, low throughput, and high efficiency.

Claims

1. A method for grouping friends of a first user of an online social network application implemented in a server having one or more processors and memory storing a plurality of programs, the method comprising:

acquiring friend relation data corresponding to a plurality of friends of the first user of the social networking application, wherein each of the plurality of friends is an existing contact of the first user on the social networking application, the friend relation data represents connections in-between the plurality of friends on the social networking application, and each of the plurality of friends corresponds to a respective friend node of a plurality of friend nodes on the social network application;

generating and storing a plurality of friend circles using the friend relation data, wherein each of the friend circles is a respective subset of the plurality of friends of the first user and includes a respective subset of the plurality of friend nodes;

determining a weight of each of the plurality of friend nodes based on the friend relation data;

selecting, among the plurality of friend circles, a first friend circle with a first friend node having a highest weight among the plurality of friend nodes;

traversing the plurality of friend nodes to add an optimum friend to the first friend circle, wherein the optimum friend corresponds to a friend node of the plurality of friend nodes; and

repeating the traversing until a first predefined number of optimum friends are added into the first friend circle.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

selecting, among the plurality of friend nodes, a second group of friend nodes, the second group comprising friend nodes not being added into the first friend circle;

selecting, among the plurality of friend circles, a second friend circle with a second friend node having a highest weight among the second group of friend nodes;

traversing the plurality of friend nodes of the second group to add an optimum friend to the second friend circle; and

repeating the traversing until a second predefined number of optimum friends are added into the second friend circle.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a first input from a client device to move a first friend from the second friend circle to the first friend circle; and

responsive to the received input and in accordance with a determination that the first friend is not already in the first friend circle;

updating the stored first friend circle and the second friend circle; and

sending, to the client device, an updated view including a modified first subset of friends and a modified second subset of friends, wherein the modified first subset of friends includes the first friend and the modified second subset of friends excludes the first friend.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining proportional weights of relation chains of the plurality of friend nodes related to each friend circle, and

determining whether each of the proportional weights is greater than a pre-set threshold; and

in accordance with a determination that one proportional weight of relation chain of a friend node is greater than the pre-set threshold, adding the friend node into the friend circle.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the proportional weight of the relation chain of the friend node related to each friend circle is determined by the proportion of strength value summation of relation chains between the friend node and nodes within the friend circle to the weight of the friend node.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the addition of the optimum friend to the first friend circle causes a maximum increment to a friend circle score of the first friend circle.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the first friend circle score is determined by a ratio of difference between strength summation of relation chains among nodes in the first friend circle and punishment value of connections outside the first friend circle to strength summation of all relation chains related to the first friend circle.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining strength value of relation chains between each two friend nodes; and

adding up the strength value of all relation chains between a friend node and any friend nodes that are in connection relation with the friend node to obtain the weight of the friend node.

9. A computer system for grouping friends of a first user of an online social network application, comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the processors to perform operations including;

acquiring friend relation data corresponding to a plurality of friends of the first user of the social networking application, wherein each of the plurality of friends is an existing contact of the first user on the social networking application, the friend relation data represents connections in-between the plurality of friends on the social networking application, and each of the plurality of friends corresponds to a respective friend node of a plurality of friend nodes on the social network application;

generating and storing a plurality of friend circles using the friend relation data, wherein each of the friend circles is a respective subset of the plurality of friends of the first user and includes a respective subset of the plurality of friend nodes;

determining a weight of each of the plurality of friend nodes based on the friend relation data;

selecting, among the plurality of friend circles, a first friend circle with a first friend node having a highest weight among the plurality of friend nodes;

traversing the plurality of friend nodes to add an optimum friend to the first friend circle, wherein the optimum friend corresponds to a friend node of the plurality of friend nodes; and

repeating the traversing until a first predefined number of optimum friends are added into the first friend circle.

10. The computer system according to claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting, among the plurality of friend nodes, a second group of friend nodes, the second group comprising friend nodes not being added into the first friend circle;

selecting, among the plurality of friend circles, a second friend circle with a second friend node having a highest weight among the second group of friend nodes;

traversing the plurality of friend nodes of the second group to add an optimum friend to the second friend circle; and

repeating the traversing until a second predefined number of optimum friends are added into the second friend circle.

11. The computer system according to claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a first input from a client device to move a first friend from the second friend circle to the first friend circle; and

responsive to the received input and in accordance with a determination that the first friend is not already in the first friend circle;

updating the stored first friend circle and the second friend circle; and

sending, to the client device, an updated view including a modified first subset of friends and a modified second subset of friends, wherein the modified first subset of friends includes the first friend and the modified second subset of friends excludes the first friend.

12. The computer system according to claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining proportional weights of relation chains of the plurality of friend nodes related to each friend circle, and

determining whether each of the proportional weights is greater than a pre-set threshold; and

in accordance with a determination that one proportional weight of relation chain of a friend node is greater than the pre-set threshold, adding the friend node into the friend circle.

13. The computer system according to claim 9, wherein the addition of the optimum friend to the first friend circle causes a maximum increment to a friend circle score of the first friend circle.

14. The computer system according to claim 9, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining strength value of relation chains between each two friend nodes; and

adding up the strength value of all relation chains between a friend node and any friend nodes that are in connection relation with the friend node to obtain the weight of the friend node.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions for grouping friends of a first user of an online social network application which, when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations comprising:

acquiring friend relation data corresponding to a plurality of friends of the first user of the social networking application, wherein each of the plurality of friends is an existing contact of the first user on the social networking application, the friend relation data represents connections in-between the plurality of friends on the social networking application, and each of the plurality of friends corresponds to a respective friend node of a plurality of friend nodes on the social network application;

generating and storing a plurality of friend circles using the friend relation data, wherein each of the friend circles is a respective subset of the plurality of friends of the first user and includes a respective subset of the plurality of friend nodes;

determining a weight of each of the plurality of friend nodes based on the friend relation data;

selecting, among the plurality of friend circles, a first friend circle with a first friend node having a highest weight among the plurality of friend nodes;

traversing the plurality of friend nodes to add an optimum friend to the first friend circle, wherein the optimum friend corresponds to a friend node of the plurality of friend nodes; and

repeating the traversing until a first predefined number of optimum friends are added into the first friend circle.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting, among the plurality of friend nodes, a second group of friend nodes, the second group comprising friend nodes not being added into the first friend circle;

selecting, among the plurality of friend circles, a second friend circle with a second friend node having a highest weight among the second group of friend nodes;

traversing the plurality of friend nodes of the second group to add an optimum friend to the second friend circle; and

repeating the traversing until a second predefined number of optimum friends are added into the second friend circle.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a first input from a client device to move a first friend from the second friend circle to the first friend circle; and

responsive to the received input and in accordance with a determination that the first friend is not already in the first friend circle;

updating the stored first friend circle and the second friend circle; and

sending, to the client device, an updated view including a modified first subset of friends and a modified second subset of friends, wherein the modified first subset of friends includes the first friend and the modified second subset of friends excludes the first friend.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining proportional weights of relation chains of the plurality of friend nodes related to each friend circle, and

determining whether each of the proportional weights is greater than a pre-set threshold; and

in accordance with a determination that one proportional weight of relation chain of a friend node is greater than the pre-set threshold, adding the friend node into the friend circle.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the addition of the optimum friend to the first friend circle causes a maximum increment to a friend circle score of the first friend circle.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the determining further comprises:

determining strength value of relation chains between each two friend nodes; and

adding up the strength value of all relation chains between a friend node and any friend nodes that are in connection relation with the friend node to obtain the weight of the friend node.