Social namespace addressing for non-unique identifiers

• US 8,006,190 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2006
• Issued: 08/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wascovich, Dan, Ott, E. Stanley IV, Trevor, Jonathan James, Ho, Edward, Farmer, F. Randall, Quoc, Michael, Fukuda, Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo; Weilun
• Assistant Examiner(s): WIENER, ERIC A
• Application Number:
  US11/555,247
• Publication Number:
  US 20080189399A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,757 Days
• Field of Search: 707/6, 707/999.102, 715/753, 709/223
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding

Abstract

A device, system, and method are directed towards enabling a user to disambiguate an identity of a member included in a user'"'"'s social network (USN), and towards enabling an operation to be performed based on information about the member. The USN is determined. The namespace identifier (NID) of the member is received. If the NID is non-unique within the USN, member distinctions are determined for members in the USN who are associated with the same NID. The member distinctions are sent to the user. The user makes a selection of one of the members associated with one of the member distinctions. Based on the selection, information about the selected member is received. The operation is enabled to be performed based on the information about the selected member. The operation may include addressing the selected member, enabling a communication between the user and the selected member, or the like.

Claims

1. A method for communication over a network, comprising:

receiving from a user, a namespace identifier (NID) associated with at least one member in a social network of the user;

if the NID is non-unique within the social network;

determining member distinctions for each member associated with the NID based in part on a characteristic of an event that involves a social gathering of at least one member in the social network and the user;

sending the member distinctions to the user;

enabling the user to select a member associated with the NID based at least on the member distinctions;

receiving information about the selected member based on the member distinctions; and

enabling an operation to be performed based on the information about the selected member.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the member distinctions further comprises determining for each member of the plurality of members, at least one of:

a number of communications with the user,

a common member within the social network of the user and within a social network of the each member, or

a characteristic of a previous event in which the user and the each member attended.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the social network of the user based on a relationship between members of an event, wherein the event includes the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user receives the member distinctions and sends the selection of the member using a mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein enabling the operation to be performed based on the information about the selected member comprises:

sending a message from the user over the selected member'"'"'s preferred mode of communication.

6. A network device to manage a communication over a network, comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data over the network; and

a processor that is operative to perform actions, comprising;

adding a user to a group associated with an event;

determining the user'"'"'s social network (USN) based on a relationship between members of the group;

receiving a namespace identifier (NID)) from the user;

if the NID is associated with a plurality of members in the USN;

determining a member distinction for each member of the plurality of members, based in part on a characteristic of an event that involves a social gathering of at least one member in the USN and the user;

sending the determined plurality of member distinctions to the user;

enabling the user to select a member associated with the NID based at least on the member distinctions;

receiving information about the selected member in response to the sent plurality of members distinctions; and

enabling the user to address the selected member based on the information about the selected member.

7. The network device of claim 6, wherein determining the member distinctions comprises determining for each member of the plurality of members, at least one of:

a number of communications with the user,

a common member within the social network of the user, wherein the commoner member is included within a social network of the each member, or

a characteristic of a previous event in which the user and the each member attended.

8. The network device of claim 6, wherein enabling the user to address the selected member comprises at least one of:

enabling a communication between the user and the selected member,

sending a group message from the user, wherein the selected member is at least one of recipient of the group message,

sending a message from the user directly to the selected member over a preferred mode of communication, or

providing information from the user to the selected member.

9. A system for managing a communication over a network, comprising:

a server device operable to perform actions comprising;

determining a user'"'"'s social network (USN) based on a relationship between members of a group associated with an event;

receiving a namespace identifier (NID) from the user;

if the NID is associated with a plurality of members in the USN;

determining a member distinction for each member of the plurality of members, based in part on a characteristic of an event that involves a social gathering of at least one member in the USN and the user;

sending the determined plurality of member distinctions to the user;

receiving information about a selected member; and

enabling the user to add the selected member to another event based on the information about the selected member; and

a mobile device in communication with the server device and operable to perform actions comprising;

receiving the determined plurality of member distinctions;

enabling the user to make the selection of the member based on the received plurality of member distinctions; and

sending to the server device the selection.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein determining the member distinctions comprises determining for each member of the plurality of members, at least one of:

a number of communications with the user,

a common member within the social network of the user and within a social network of the each member, or

a characteristic of a previous event in which the user and the each member attended.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the selection includes a unique identifier (ID) associated with the selected member.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the characteristic of an event includes an event-based unique identifier (ID) associated with the selected member.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the server device is further operable to perform actions comprising enabling a communication between the user and the selected member based on the information about the selected member.

14. A processor readable non-transitive storage medium having processor executable instructions for managing a communication over a network, the processor executable instructions configured to enable a processor to perform actions, comprising:

receiving from a user, a namespace identifier (NID) associated with at least one member in a social network of the user;

if the NID is non-unique within the social network;

determining member distinctions for each member that is associated with the NID based in part on a characteristic of an event that involves a social gathering of at least one member in the social network and the user;

sending the member distinctions to the user;

enabling the user to select a member associated with the NID based at least on the member distinctions;

receiving information about the selected member based on the member distinctions; and

enabling a communication over a preferred mode of communication between the user and the selected member based on the information about the selected member, wherein the preferred mode of communication is determined by the selected member.

15. The processor readable non-transitive storage medium of claim 14, further comprising other processor executable instructions configured to enable the processor to perform actions comprising:

determining the social network of the user based on a relationship between members of an event, wherein the event includes the user.

16. The processor readable non-transitive storage medium of claim 14, wherein the user receives the member distinctions, and sends the selection of the member using a mobile device.

17. The processor readable non-transitive storage medium of claim 14, wherein enabling the communication to be performed based on the information about the selected member comprises:

sending a message from the user over an associated mode of communication, if the user is associated with the associated mode of communication for the selected member;

sending a message from the user over the selected member'"'"'s preferred mode of communication, if the user is un-associated with the associated mode of communication.

18. A mobile device for managing a communication over a network comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data over the network; and

a processor that is operative to perform actions, comprising;

sending a namespace identifier (NID) that is both associated with a plurality of members and corresponds to a characteristic of an event in a social network of a user of the mobile device, wherein the event involves a social gathering of at least one member in the social network and the user;

receiving a determined plurality of member distinctions associated with the plurality of members;

enabling a selection by the user of a member of the plurality of members associated with the NID and that correspond to the characteristic of the event based on the received plurality of member distinctions; and

sending to the server device based on the selection, information about the selected member and an operation to be performed based on the information about the selected member.

19. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the plurality of member distinctions is determined based on at least one of:

an amount of communication with the user,

a common member within the social network of the user and within a social network of the each member, or

a characteristic of a previous event in which the user and the each member attended.

20. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the operation includes a communication of an instant message (IM) message, an email message, or a short message service (SMS) message.