Degrees of separation for handling communications

• US 20050076240A1
• Filed: 12/29/2003
• Published: 04/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AOL Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Appleman, Barry
• Granted Patent: US 7,945,674 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1079 of unsolicited session attempts, e.g. SPIT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A sender'"'"'s degrees of separation from a recipient may be used to aid in spam filtering or to otherwise handle a communication. The “degrees of separation” represent a metric used to quantify whether/how the recipient is linked to the sender through intermediary people or other entities. For example, a recipient may know a first user (first degree of separation) and the first user may know a second user (second degree of separation) who knows the sender of an e-mail. In this case, the sender is separated from the recipient by two degrees of separation (by two other contacts). A level of “trust” or “legitimacy” about a sender'"'"'s communication can be inferred by looking at whether the sender is linked to an intended recipient. Typically, user contact lists (e.g., address book, buddy list, and/or white list) are evaluated to determine the number of degrees (or hops) are required to link or relate two users.

Claims

1. A method for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the method comprising:

receiving a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

identifying the sender of the communication;

identifying the intended recipient of the communication;

determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

displaying an interface to the sender prior to displaying the communication to the sender when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation, wherein the interface comprises an interface element that allows the intended recipient to indicate that the communication should be displayed.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the interface informs the intended recipient that the sender has sent a communication to the intended recipient.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the interface displays to the intended recipient an identifier of the sender.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying the communication when the intended recipient uses the interface element to indicate that the communication should be displayed.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation includes determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein determining whether the sender is linked to the intended recipient by at least one intermediary entity comprises accessing a contact list of the intended recipient to determine at least one contact on the contact list.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein accessing a contact list of the intended recipient comprises accessing a contact list that contains communication identifiers related to a different type of communication than the communication from the sender to the intended recipient.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein accessing a contact list of the intended recipient comprising accessing a contact list that contains communication identifiers related to the type of communication that includes the communication from the sender to the recipient.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises an address book.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a buddy list.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a personal phone book.

12. The method of claim 6 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a white list.

13. The method of claim 5 wherein the communication is an e-mail message.

14. The method of claim 5 wherein the communication is an instant message.

15. The method of claim 5 wherein the communication is an SMS message.

16. The method of claim 5 wherein the communication is a telephone call.

17. The method of claim 5 wherein determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity comprises:

accessing a contact list of the intended recipient to determine a first contact on the intended recipient'"'"'s contact list; and

accessing a contact list of the first contact to determine a second contact on the first contact'"'"'s contact list.

18. A computer-usable medium storing a computer program for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

receive a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

identify the sender of the communication;

identify the intended recipient of the communication;

determine whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

display an interface to the sender prior to displaying the communication to the sender when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation, wherein the interface comprises an interface element that allows the intended recipient to indicate that the communication should be displayed.

19. The medium of claim 18 wherein the interface informs the intended recipient that the sender has sent a communication to the intended recipient.

20. The medium of claim 18 wherein the interface displays to the intended recipient an identifier of the sender.

21. The medium of claim 18 further comprising displaying the communication when the intended recipient uses the interface element to indicate that the communication should be displayed.

22. The medium of claim 18 wherein, to determine whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to determine whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity.

23. The medium of claim 22 wherein, to determine whether the sender is linked to the intended recipient by at least one intermediary entity, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to access a contact list of the intended recipient to determine at least one contact on the contact list.

24. The medium of claim 23 wherein, to access a contact list of the intended recipient, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to access a contact list that contains communication identifiers related to a different type of communication than the communication from the sender to the intended recipient.

25. The medium of claim 23 wherein, to access a contact list of the intended recipient, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to access a contact list that contains communication identifiers related to the type of communication that includes the communication from the sender to the recipient.

26. The medium of claim 23 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises an address book.

27. The medium of claim 23 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a buddy list.

28. The medium of claim 23 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a personal phone book.

29. The medium of claim 23 wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises a white list.

30. The medium of claim 22 wherein the communication is an e-mail message.

31. The medium of claim 22 wherein the communication is an instant message.

32. The medium of claim 22 wherein the communication is an SMS message.

33. The medium of claim 22 wherein the communication is a telephone call.

34. The medium of claim 22 wherein, to determine whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to:

access a contact list of the intended recipient to determine a first contact on the intended recipient'"'"'s contact list; and

access a contact list of the first contact to determine a second contact on the first contact'"'"'s contact list.

35. An apparatus for handling a communication from a sender to an intended recipient, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

means for identifying the sender of the communication;

means for identifying the intended recipient of the communication;

means for determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

means for displaying an interface to the sender prior to displaying the communication to the sender when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation, wherein the interface comprises an interface element that allows the intended recipient to indicate that the communication should be displayed.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein the interface informs the intended recipient that the sender has sent a communication to the intended recipient.

37. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein the interface displays to the intended recipient an identifier of the sender.

38. The apparatus of claim 35 further comprising displaying the communication when the intended recipient uses the interface element to indicate that the communication should be displayed.