MORPHING SOCIAL NETWORKS BASED ON USER CONTEXT

• US 20100185630A1
• Filed: 12/30/2008
• Published: 07/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fisher, Danyel Aharon, Cheng, Lili, Counts, Scott J., Manolescu, Dragos A.
• Application Number:
  US12/346,419
• Publication Number:
  US 20100185630A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/756
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Providing for adaptive networking based on user context is disclosed herein. By way of example, networking usage patterns, preferences and disposition toward a network or network interface can be monitored and analyzed to determine the user context. In some aspects, the usage context can be further modified based on language processing of content of messages sent or received by the user. Once determined, user context can be employed to adapt a composition of a network, including user nodes of the network as well as interface tools for accessing the network, based on the user context. As user use patterns change, the network can be further adapted to account for changes in user context over time, or other suitable user categorizations. Accordingly, the subject disclosure provides a powerful tool for breaking user-software paradigms requiring the user to adapt to the network and network tools.

Claims

1. A system for adapting a network, comprising:

a database for aggregating data descriptive of inter-personal relationships of a set of users of a communication network, the inter-personal relationships forming a social network;

a tracking component that infers a context of a user of a set of electronic devices coupled with the network; and

a mediation component that modifies composition of the social network, or an interface to the communication network, based on the user context.

2. The system of claim 1, the mediation component adds or subtracts user nodes or relationships between user nodes to modify composition of the social network.

3. The system of claim 1, the context comprising a physical context of the user or a usage context of the user relative to a subset of the electronic devices.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a usage component that compiles data pertaining to user usage of the set of electronic devices, the tracking component employs the compiled data in inferring the user context.

5. The system of claim 1, the interface to the communication network comprising a communication application or an operating system of a subset of the electronic devices.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising an output component that formats a subset of the aggregated data, descriptive of the modified social network composition, for user consumption.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a context component that tracks user location, usage patterns, message content or user usage preferences to facilitate determination of the context.

8. The system of claim 7, the usage patterns comprise at least one of:

an interface application employed to interact with the social network;

features of the interface application employed by a user;

responses to received messages;

content of a message;

frequencies of particular responses to the received messages;

a device employed to interface to the network;

or

a user physical context, or a combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein:

the context component determines a user disposition with respect to the interface and records the disposition in a disposition profile; and

the mediation component employs the user disposition for modifying the composition of the social network or the interface to the social network.

10. The system of claim 1, the mediation component incorporates social networking features into the interface based on the inferred context.

11. The system of claim 10, the context is inferred based on at least one of:

a task a user is engaged in;

an expertise of the user or a second user;

content of a message;

a user location;

current utilization of the interface by the user;

or

a device currently employed by the user to execute the interface.

12. A method of customizing a social network, comprising:

aggregating data that is descriptive of inter-personal relationships of a set of users of a communication network, the data representing users as nodes and relationships between the users as node connections;

determining a context of a user based on user use of an application or device providing an interface to the communication network; and

modifying composition of the user nodes and node relationships or of features of the interface to match the context of the user.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising dynamically reconfiguring the user relationships based on a current user context of the user and outputting the reconfigured relationships to the user via the interface.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising outputting the modified interface features to a control module that updates the interface according to the modified features.

15. The method of claim 12, determining the context further comprises at least one of:

tracking usage patterns pertaining to the interface application;

identifying a current task or interest of the user;

maintaining a knowledge database of user interests or user expertise;

employing language processing to infer meaning from user communication involving the network;

or

determining a physical context of the user, or a combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 12, modifying the application features further comprises incorporating communication features of a social network into the interface application.

17. The method of claim 12, modifying user relationships further comprises adding, deleting or modifying user social connectivity based on the user context.

18. The method of claim 12, the user interface application comprises at least one of:

an e-mail application;

a network messaging application;

a message board application;

a public social network interface;

a private enterprise social network interface;

or

a mobility application.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising obtaining explicit user contextual input in conjunction with determining the user context.

20. A system for providing customized social networking, comprising:

a mining algorithm that monitors user usage of interface applications to a communication network that comprises a social network;

an inference component that determines user disposition toward the social network;

a tracking component that determines a user context for the network from the user usage and a current user disposition;

a database that maintains a context profile for a user of the network; and

a mediation component that modifies user connectivity pertaining to the social network or features of an interface application based on the context profile.