System and method of information filtering using measures of affinity of a relationship

• US 7,707,122 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2004
• Issued: 04/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Slack Technologies, Inc. (Salesforce.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hull, Mark Everett, Farmer, F. Randall, Perelman, Ellen Sue
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss; John G
• Assistant Examiner(s): SENSENIG, SHAUN D
• Application Number:
  US10/946,636
• Publication Number:
  US 20050171955A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,044 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1
• US Class Current: 705/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking

Abstract

A system, apparatus, and method are directed towards enabling information filtering using measures of an affinity of a relationship between subscribers of an online portal system. The affinity of a relationship may be determined based, in part, on the tracking of various online behaviors of and between subscribers of the portal system. Any of a variety of behaviors may be tracked, including message communications between subscribers, participation in instant messaging groups, purchases, activities, categories, and so forth. Such behaviors may be employed to determine a level of trust (or affinity) between subscribers of the portal system. This affinity measurement may be used to filter various information, including, but not limited to, product recommendations, ratings, polling queries, advertising, social network communications, personal ads, search results, and the like. Moreover, this affinity measurement may also be employed to perform message spam detection.

Claims

1. A method of sharing information between a plurality of subscribers of an online social network with a processing device that enables actions, comprising:

employing the processing device to determine a relationship trust based that is based at least in part on behavioral information about at least one behavior of each subscriber in the plurality of subscribers of the online social network, wherein the behavioral information includes at least tracked online activities of each subscriber that is both indirect of the tracked online activity and separate from an interaction or communication with another subscriber in the plurality of subscribers;

employing the processing device to determine a relationship strength between each of the plurality of subscribers of the online social network, wherein the relationship strength is based at least in part on a degree of separation between each of the plurality of subscribers;

employing the processing device to determine an affinity of a relationship between a subscriber and each of the other subscribers in the plurality of subscribers of the online social network based, in part on the relationship strength and the relationship trust that is based on the determined behavioral information that includes at least the tracked online activities separate from an interaction or communication with another subscriber;

employing the processing device to receive an input query and an affinity filter parameter from the subscriber of the online social network, wherein the input query is a request for information and the affinity filter parameter specifies a subset of the plurality of subscribers;

employing the processing device to search through the determined behavioral information and generate a result based at least in part on the input query, the affinity filter parameter, and the determined affinity of the relationship, wherein the affinity filter parameter based on a separate selection for each of the relationship trust and the relationship strength; and

employing the processing device to provide the result of the searching to the subscriber of the online social network that includes actual information requested by the input query, wherein the actual information being based on at least one behavior of the other subscribers in the subset of the plurality of subscribers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracked online activities that are independent of an interaction or communication further comprises tracking at least one of a frequency with which each subscriber accessed at least one of a portal service and a non-portal Web site, a duration over which the subscriber accessed at least one of the portal service and the non-portal Web site, a content type accessed by each subscriber through at least one of the portal service and the non-portal Web site, a portal assessment, and an online purchase made by each subscriber through at least one of the portal service and the non-portal Web site.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the behavioral information further comprises tracking at least one of communicating a message between the subscriber and another subscriber, participation in a group, a buddy list, a contact list, and an activity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the behavior of each subscriber further comprises participating in at least one of an online friend matching service, an online dating service, an online job searching service, an online classmate searching service, an online military colleague searching service, an online club, an online financial service, an online auction, and an online purchase.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

employing the processing device to determine whether each subscriber has engaged in spamming; and

employing the processing device to indicate in the behavioral information if each subscriber has engaged in spamming.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the affinity of the relationship is further based at least one of multiple degrees of separation between the subscriber and other members of the online social network, and a shared interest among members of the online social network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the affinity of the relationship further comprises determining an affinity measurement based on at least a relationship of an implied level of trust.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the search results further comprise at least one of product recommendations, ratings, polling queries, advertising social network communications, personal ads, and career opportunities.

9. A server for communicating information between a plurality of subscribers of an online social network, comprising:

a transceiver for receiving and sending information to a computing device;

a processor in communication with the transceiver; and

a memory in communication with the processor and storing data and machine instructions that cause the processor to perform a plurality of operations, including;

determining a relationship trust based that is based at least in part on behavioral information about at least one behavior of each subscriber in the plurality of subscribers of the online social network, wherein the behavioral information includes at least tracked online activities of each subscriber that is both indirect of the tracked online activity and separate from an interaction or communication with another subscriber in the plurality of subscribers;

determining a relationship strength between each of the plurality of subscribers of the online social network, wherein the relationship strength is based at least in part on a degree of separation between each of the plurality of subscribers;

determining an affinity of a relationship between a subscriber and each of the other subscribers of the online social network based, in part on the relationship strength and the relationship trust that is based on the determined behavioral information;

receiving an input query and an affinity filter parameter from the subscriber, wherein the input query is a request for information;

searching through the determined behavioral information based on the input query and the affinity filter parameter, wherein the affinity filter parameter is based on a separate selection for each of the relationship trust and the relationship strength;

obtaining actual information that satisfies the search, wherein the actual information is collective information from more than a single other subscriber within the plurality of subscribers; and

providing directly to the subscriber the collective actual information.

10. The server of claim 9, wherein determining the behavioral information further comprises tracking at least one of communicating a message between the subscriber and the other subscriber, participation in a group, a buddy list, a contact list, and an activity.

11. The server of claim 9, wherein determining the affinity of the relationship further comprises employing a relationship graph.

12. The server of claim 9, where determining the affinity of the relationship further comprises determining an affinity measurement based on at least a relationship trust of an implied level of trust.

13. The server of claim 9, where determining the affinity of the relationship further comprises determining a relationship trust and a relationship strength, and combining the relationship trust and relationship strength to determine the affinity.

14. The server of claim 9, wherein providing the portion of the search results further comprises providing the portion of information to a mobile device.

15. The server of claim 9, wherein searching through the determined behavioral information further comprises performing a search using the determined affinity of the relationship to filter the determined behavioral information.

16. The server of claim 9, wherein searching through the determined behavioral information further comprises performing a search using the determined affinity of the relationship and a subject matter to filter the determined behavioral information.

17. A computer readable storage medium having computer readable instructions thereon for accessing portal subscriber behavioral information between a plurality of portal subscribers of an online social network, that when executed within a computing device performs actions, comprising:

enabling the computing device to determine a relationship trust based that is based at least in part on tracking portal subscriber behavioral information based at least in part on a behavior of each of the plurality of portal subscribers, wherein the behavioral information includes at least tracked online activities of each portal subscriber that is both indirect of the tracked online activity and separate from an interaction or communication with another portal subscriber in the plurality of portal subscribers;

enabling the computing device to determine a relationship strength between each of the plurality of subscribers of the online social network, wherein the relationship strength is based at least in part on a degree of separation between each of the plurality of subscribers;

enabling the computing device to enable a determination of an affinity of a relationship between each portal subscriber and each other portal subscriber in the plurality of portal subscribers based on the relationship strength and the relationship trust that is based on the tracked behavioral information;

enabling the computing device to receive an input query and an affinity filter parameter from a portal subscriber, wherein the input query is a request for information;

enabling the computing device to search through the determined behavioral information based on the input query and the affinity filter parameter, wherein the affinity filter parameter is based on a separate selection for each of the relationship trust and the relationship strength;

enabling the computing device to obtain actual information that satisfies the search, wherein the actual information is collective information from more than a single other portal subscriber within the plurality of portal subscribers; and

enabling the computing device to provide directly to the requesting portal subscriber the collective actual information.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein providing the search results further comprises accessing the provided search results from a mobile device.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein enabling the determination of the affinity of the relationship further comprises, determining an affinity measurement based on at least a relationship of an implied level of trust.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the behavior of the subscriber further comprises participating in at least one of an online friend matching service, an online dating service, an online job searching service, an online classmate searching service, an online military colleague searching service, an online club, an online financial service, an online auction, an activity, a category, a chat session, an instant messaging session, an email communication, and an online purchase.

21. An apparatus for accessing portal subscriber information between a plurality of subscribers of an online social network, comprising:

a memory for storing processor readable data;

a network interface for communicating with the plurality of subscribers of the online social network; and

a processor that executes the stored data to enable a plurality of modules to perform actions, comprising;

a first module that is arranged to determine a relationship trust based that is based at least in part on tracking portal subscriber behavioral information based at least in part on a behavior of each portal subscriber in the plurality of portal subscribers, wherein the behavioral information includes at least tracked online activities of each portal subscriber that is both indirect of the tracked online activity and separate from an interaction or communication with another portal subscriber in the plurality of portal subscribers;

a second module that is arranged to determine a relationship strength between each of the plurality of subscribers of the online social network, wherein the relationship strength is based at least in part on a degree of separation between each of the plurality of subscribers;

a third module that is arranged to determine an affinity of a relationship between each portal subscriber and each other portal subscriber in the plurality of portal subscribers based on the relationship strength and the relationship trust that is based on the tracked behavioral information;

a fourth module that is arranged to receive an input query and an affinity filter parameter from a portal subscriber, wherein the input query is a request for information;

a fifth module that is arranged to search through the determined behavioral information based on the input query and the affinity filter parameter, wherein the affinity filter parameter is based on a separate selection for each of the relationship trust and the relationship strength;

a sixth module that is arranged to obtain actual information that satisfies the search, wherein the actual information is collective information from more than a single other portal subscriber within the plurality of portal subscribers;

a seventh module that is arranged to provide directly to the requesting portal subscriber the actual information; and

an eighth module that is arranged to provide at least a portion of the search results to at least one other subscriber of the online social network, wherein the search results describe at least one behavior.