MOBILE USER CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20130217363A1
• Filed: 02/16/2012
• Published: 08/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Wavemarket Incorporated (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: Myers, Jesse
• Granted Patent: US 9,183,597 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A system and method of classifying historic and real-time social contacts of one or more mobile users in such a manner that classification structures are implemented. Those classification structures are maintained in a database and updated with additional information that can either be found or heuristically inferred. The maintained classification structures can be searched to obtain information or used to send alerts that notify others of a change in a social network, such as an alert to a parent when their child'"'"'s social network changes.

Claims

1. A classification system comprising:

an input manager receiving at least one action;

a classification manager operatively connected to the input manager and receiving the at least one action, the classification manager for updating at least one of a profile classification, a relationship classification, or a network classification in response to the at least one action; and

a database operatively connected to and storing the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification;

wherein the at least one action is any one of a set of acts that impact on a profile classification, a relationship classification, or a network classification.

2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising an alerts subsystem for generating alerts based on the content of the profile classification.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the alerts subsystem generates alerts based on the contents of the relationship classification and the network classification.

4. The system according to claim 1, further including a query subsystem for interrogating the database to obtain information from at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the input manager obtains information from a cellular infrastructure, and wherein the information from the cellular infrastructure is sent to the classification manager which applies the information from the cellular infrastructure to at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the input manager obtains information from an external source, and wherein the information from the external source is sent to the classification manager which applies the information from the external source to at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the classification manager determines heuristic information from the information from an external source.

8. The system according to claim 5, wherein the classification manager determines heuristic information from the information from the cellular infrastructure.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the classification manager obtains heuristic information from the at least one action.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the input manager is contained within a mobile device.

11. A computer-implemented method of classifying social network contacts, comprising:

awaiting a social contact action that impacts on a classification;

updating a profile classification upon the occurrence of a social contact action;

updating a relationship classification upon the occurrence of a social contact action;

updating a network classification upon the occurrence of a social contact action;

obtaining additional information from a cellular infrastructure, wherein the additional information relates to at least one of the profile classification, relationship classification, and network classification;

updating at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification using a heuristic assumption; and

answering a query based on at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein updating the profile classification comprises creating a profile classification.

13. The method according to claim 11, furthering comprising obtaining additional information from an external source.

14. The method according to claim 11, furthering comprising sending an alert based on the content of at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification.

15. A system comprising non-transitory computer readable storage media comprising coded instructions to:

form an input manager for receiving at least one social contact action from a mobile device;

put into operation a database operatively storing a profile classification, a relationship classification, and a network classification; and

produce a classification manager that is operatively connected to the input manager for receiving at least one social contact action, wherein the classification manager updates at least one of the profile classification, relationship classification, or network classification in the database in response to the at least one social contact action;

wherein the at least one social contact action is any one of a set of acts that impact on the profile classification, the relationship classification, or the network classification.

16. The system according to claim 15, the non-transitory computer readable storage media further comprising coded instructions to create an alerts subsystem for generating alerts based on content of the profile classification

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the alerts subsystem generates alerts based on content of the relationship classification or the network classification.

18. The system according to claim 15, the non-transitory computer readable storage media further comprising coded instructions to implement a query subsystem for interrogating the database to obtain information from the database.

19. The system according to claim 15, wherein the classification manager obtains heuristic information from the social contact action and updates at least one of the profile classification, relationship classification, and network classification with that heuristic information.

20. The system according to claim 15, wherein the input manager obtains information from a cellular infrastructure, and wherein the information from the cellular infrastructure is sent to the classification manager which applies the information from the cellular infrastructure to at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein the input manager obtains information from an external source, and wherein the information from the external source is sent to the classification manager which applies the information from the external source to at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein the classification manager produces heuristic information from the information from an external source and wherein the classification manager applies the produced heuristic information to at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification.

23. The system according to claim 20, wherein the classification manager produces heuristic information from the information from the cellular infrastructure and wherein the produced heuristic information is applied to at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification.

24. The system according to claim 15, wherein the input manager is contained within a mobile device.

25. The system according to claim 24, wherein the mobile device includes a client manager that controls features and settings.

26. A classification system comprising:

an input manager receiving information related to a social interaction performed by a first person and a second person;

a classification manager operatively connected to the input manager and receiving the social interaction information, the classification manager updating at least one of a profile classification of the first person, a relationship classification of the first person, and a network classification of the first person in response to the received social interaction information; and

a database operatively connected to and storing the profile classification of the first person, the relationship classification of the first person, and the network classification of the first person;

wherein the social interaction is any one of a set of acts that impact on a profile classification, a relationship classification, or a network classification.

27. The system according to claim 26, wherein the input manager obtains information from a cellular infrastructure, and wherein the information from the cellular infrastructure is sent to the classification manager which applies that information from the cellular infrastructure to at least one of the profile classification of the first person, the relationship classification of the first person, the network classification of the first person, a profile classification of the second person, a relationship classification of the second person, and a network classification of the second person.

28. The system according to claim 27, wherein the information from the cellular infrastructure indicates whether the first person and the second person are on the same account.

29. The system according to claim 28, wherein if the first person and the second person are on the same account, a heuristic determination is made that the first person and the second person are related.

30. The system according to claim 29, wherein the heuristic determination that the first person and the second person are related causes the classification manager to add that determination to at least one of the profile classification of the first person, the relationship classification of the first person, the network classification of the first person, the profile classification of the second person, the relationship classification of the second person, and the network classification of the second person.

31. The system according to claim 27, wherein the information from the cellular infrastructure comprises information about the social network of the first person.

32. The system according to claim 26, wherein the profile classification of the first person comprises at least one of the following:

age, gender, popularity, school attended, workplace, frequency of messaging, frequency of calling, travel, location, workdays, and work hours.

33. The system according to claim 26, wherein the relationship classification of the first person comprises at least one of the following:

a close friend, a co-worker, an employer, and a social status.

34. The system according to claim 26, wherein the network classification of the first person comprises information related to how the first person socially interacts with others.

35. The system according to claim 26, wherein the relationship classification of the first person comprises a type, frequency, content, and timing of social interactions.

36. The system according to claim 26, wherein the classification manager compares the relationship classification of the first person and the relationship classification of the second person with relationship classifications of others to determine if the first person and the second person have a parent-child relationship.

37. The system according to claim 26, wherein the classification manager iteratively refines the profile classification of the first person by feeding back information from at least one of the profile classification of the first person, the relationship classification of the first person, and the network classification of the first person.

38. The system according to claim 37, wherein the classification manager iteratively refines the age of the first person in the profile classification based on the existence of a parent-child relationship in the relationship classification of the first person.

39. The system according to claim 26, further comprising an alerts subsystem for generating alerts based on the content of the profile classification.

40. The system according to claim 39, wherein the alerts subsystem sends an alert in response to changes to the profile classification of the first person.

41. The system according to claim 40, wherein the second person is an adult and the alerts subsystem sends an alert in response to the first person socially interacting with an adult.

42. The system according to claim 40, wherein the alerts subsystem sends an alert in response to an existing relationship between the first person and the second person becoming hostile.

43. The system according to claim 40, wherein the alerts subsystem sends an alert in response to identity theft between the first person and the second person.

44. The system according to claim 40, wherein the alerts subsystem sends an alert in response to the second person being a new social contact of the first person.

45. The system according to claim 26, wherein the social interaction is the first person contacting the second person for the first time.

46. The system according to claim 26, wherein the social interaction is the first person adding the second person to a contact list.

47. The system according to claim 26, wherein a heuristic determination is made as to the gender of the first person based on the name of the first person.

48. The system according to claim 26, wherein the input manager seeks additional information about the second person comprising a cellular account number.

49. The system according to claim 26, wherein the input manager obtains information from an external source, and wherein the information from the external source is sent to the classification manager which applies the information from the external source to at least one of the profile classification, the relationship classification, and the network classification.

50. The system according to claim 49, wherein the information from an external source relates to an academic status of the first person.

51. The system according to claim 50, wherein the age of the first person is heuristically approximated using their academic status.

52. The system according to claim 26, further comprising a query subsystem for interrogating the database to obtain information from the database.

53. The system according to claim 52, wherein the query subsystem enables interrogating the database to obtain information from at least one of the profile classification of the first person, the relationship classification of the first person, and the network classification of the first person.

54. The system according to claim 53, wherein the query subsystem enables a parent to identify the at least one of closest relationships and outlying relationships of the first person.