Device, system, and method of creating virtual social networks based on web-extracted features

• US 7,895,208 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2008
• Issued: 02/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wrp IP Management, LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Konopnicki, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene; John E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hershley; Mark E
• Application Number:
  US12/037,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20090216773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 707/999.01, 707/710, 707/731, 707/732, 707/737, 707/738, 707/741, 707/748, 707/749
• US Class Current: 707/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Device, system, and method of creating virtual social networks based on web-extracted features. For example, a method for creating virtual social networks based on web-extracted data includes: accessing through a global communication network a first content item and a second content item, wherein each one of the first and second content items is selected from the group consisting of: an image, a video, text, and metadata; extracting data corresponding to a first feature from the first content item; extracting data corresponding to a second feature from the second content item; and based on a common attribute of the first and second features, clustering into a cluster a first identifier of a first user associated with the first content item and a second identifier of a second user associated with the second content item.

Claims

1. A method for creating virtual social networks based on web-extracted data, the method comprising:

searching through content published in a wide area distributed communication network for identifiers identifying respective publishers of said content, wherein said identifiers are utilized to contact the publisher of said content, if the content is selected for inclusion in a content index in a virtual social network, and wherein the searching process is triggered independent of a keyword search initiated by an individual that is identifiable by a particular search engine used to perform the keyword search;

determining a first identifier associated with a first content item and a second identifier associated with a second content item, wherein each one of the first and second content items comprises one or more of an image, a video, text, and metadata, or a combination thereof;

extracting data corresponding to a first feature from the first content item;

extracting data corresponding to a second feature from the second content item;

recognizing a common attribute that is common to the first and second features; and

associating the first identifier and the second identifier such that the publishers of the first content and the second content are indexed into a common group based on the common attribute recognized for the first and the second features.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the searching through content published in a wide area distributed communication network comprises:

automatically browsing the World Wide Web using a crawling algorithm.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a representation included in the first and second content items, wherein the representation is selected from one or more of;

a representation of a common landmark,

a representation of a common person, or

a representation of a common article.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second content items is a non-text content item from which data corresponding to the common attribute is extracted using algorithms for at least one of image recognition, text recognition, geo-spatial data recognition, or geo-tagging.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

sending to the publishers of the first content and the second content invitations to join a virtual social network associated with the common attribute of the first and second features,

wherein said invitations are sent to the identifiers identifying the respective publishers of said content,

wherein said identifiers are utilized to contact the publisher of said content, if the content is selected for inclusion in a content index that is to be publically shared among members of the virtual social network, and

wherein the invitations are submitted by an automated system rather than by an affirmative action taken by an existing member of the virtual social network.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising:

receiving a signal indicating user acceptance of the invitation; and

adding the user to the virtual social network associated with the common attribute of the first and second features.

7. The method of claim 6, comprising:

providing one or more virtual social network services to one or more participants of the virtual social network.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

sending to at least one of the first and second users a commercial content item based on the common attribute of the first and second features.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the commercial content item is selected from the group consisting of:

an advertisement, a promotion, a coupon, a discount representation, an offer to purchase an item, an offer to purchase a service, an offer to receive a free item, and an offer to receive a free service.

10. An apparatus for creating virtual social networks based on web-extracted data, the apparatus comprising:

a crawler module for searching through content published in a wide area distributed communication network for identifiers identifying respective publishers of said content, wherein said identifiers are utilized to contact the publisher of said content, if the content is selected for inclusion in a content index, and wherein the searching process is triggered independent of a keyword search initiated by an individual that is identifiable by a particular search engine used to perform the keyword search;

one or more content analyzers for determining a first identifier associated with a first content item and a second identifier associated with a second content item, wherein each one of the first and second content items comprises one or more of an image, a video, text, and metadata, or a combination thereof;

extracting data corresponding to a first feature from the first content item;

extracting data corresponding to a second feature from the second content item;

recognizing a common attribute of the first and second features; and

a clustering module for associating the first identifier and the second identifier such that the publishers of the first content and the second content are indexed into a common group based on the common attribute recognized for the first and the second features.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein at least one of the first and second content items is a non-text content item from which data corresponding to a common feature is extracted using algorithms for at least one of image recognition, text recognition, geo-spatial data recognition, or geo-tagging.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the crawler module is to automatically browse the World Wide Web using a crawling algorithm.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more content analyzers are to identify one or more representations selected from the group consisting of:

a representation of a common landmark included in the first and second content items;

a representation of a common person included in the first and second content items; and

a representation of a common article included in the first and second content items.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising:

an invitation module for sending to the publishers of the first content and the second content invitations to join a virtual social network associated with the common attribute of the first and second features,

wherein said invitations are sent to the identifiers identifying the respective publishers of said content,

wherein said identifiers are utilized to contact the publisher of said content, if the content is selected for inclusion in a content index that is to be publically shared among members of the virtual social network, and

wherein the invitations are submitted by an automated system rather than by an affirmative action taken by an existing member of the virtual social network.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the invitation module is to receive a signal indicating user acceptance of the invitation, and wherein the apparatus comprises a virtual social network generator to add the user to the virtual social network associated with the common attribute of the first and second features.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the virtual social network generator is to provide one or more virtual social network services to one or more participants of the virtual social network.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising:

a commercial content platform to send to at least one of the first and second users a commercial content item based on the common attribute of the first and second features.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the commercial content item is selected from the group consisting of:

an advertisement, a promotion, a coupon, a discount representation, an offer to purchase an item, an offer to purchase a service, an offer to receive a free item, and an offer to receive a free service.

19. A computer program product comprising a tangible computer readable storage medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

search through content published in a wide area distributed communication network for identifiers identifying respective publishers of said content, wherein said identifiers are utilized to contact the publisher of said content, if the content is selected for inclusion in a content index, and wherein the searching process is triggered independent of a keyword search initiated by an individual that is identifiable by a particular search engine used to perform the keyword search;

determine a first identifier associated with a first content item and a second identifier associated with a second content item, wherein each one of the first and second content items comprises one or more of an image, a video, text, and metadata, or a combination thereof;

extract data corresponding to a first feature from the first content item;

extract data corresponding to a second feature from the second content item;

recognize a common attribute of the first and second features; and

associate the first identifier and the second identifier such that the publishers of the first content and the second content are indexed into a common group based on the common attribute recognized for the first and the second features.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readable program when executed on the computer further causes the computer to:

identify one or more representations comprising one or more of;

a representation of a common landmark included in the first and second content items;

a representation of a common person included in the first and second content items;

or

a representation of a common article included in the first and second content items.