Apparatus for increasing social interaction over an electronic network

• US 8,166,407 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2007
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Social Concepts Incorporated (Aristocrat Leisure Limited)
• Original Assignee: Social Concepts Incorporated (Aristocrat Leisure Limited)
• Inventors: Lee, Joseph William, Grendler, Peter August, Hedlund, Michael R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Colin, Carl
• Assistant Examiner(s): THIAW, CATHERINE B
• Application Number:
  US11/627,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20080184133A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,916 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-229, 709203-206, 705/14, 705/37, 705750-759, 705/402, 705 141- 1416, 705/14.2, 705/14.6, 705/14.61, 705/26.3, 463/60, 463 20- 25, 725/42, 715751-759
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/17306 Intercommunication techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0208 Trade or exchange of goods or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0209 Incentive being awarded or redeemed in connection with the playing of a video game
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0212 Chance discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0213 Consumer transaction fees
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0214 Referral reward systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

In one embodiment, a system includes a server that hosts webpages facilitating user interaction between multiple endpoints. The system monitors for a user input requesting initiation of a happy hour, and when the input is detected, modifies the webpages to alert users of the happy hour. The users are notified of which user initiated the happy hour, and are also notified that interaction incentives accumulate at an increased rate during the happy hour. The system also tracks user scorings that accumulate based on the user interaction, and enables certain website features based on these user scorings. The system also tracks ratings for user-uploaded objects and identifies top rated objects for displaying on webpages viewable by other users.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

enabling members of a social networking website to submit a request, through the social networking website, to initiate a temporary period, wherein the social networking website is hosted by a server and comprises a plurality of social networking webpages that are configured to provide real time interaction between the members;

responsive to receiving an input from one of the members to request initiation of a particular temporary time period, selecting a start time and an end time for the particular temporary time period;

temporarily modifying at least one of the social networking webpages hosted by the server to identify the member that sent the input for a duration corresponding to the selected times; and

changing a mode of the social networking website for the particular temporary time period responsive to receiving the input;

wherein changing the mode of the social networking website for the particular temporary time period further comprises triggering the social networking website to adjust points awarded to the members for interacting with each other within the duration corresponding to the selected times, and wherein in response to said triggering, member interactions sent using the social networking website before the start time or after the end time are scored at a first non-zero rate and member interactions sent using the social networking website within the duration are scored at a second non-zero rate that is greater than the first non-zero rate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein temporarily modifying the at least one of the social networking webpages hosted by the server to identify the member that sent the input for the duration corresponding to the selected times further comprises temporarily modifying the social networking webpages to display, for the duration, an email or messaging address for the member that sent the input.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising multiplying received bid amounts for a member advertisement space within the duration, the member advertisement space for displaying a visual representation and profile of a highest bidding one of the members.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a number of currently active members in response to receiving the input; and

using the identified number of currently active members to select the start and end times.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second non-zero rate is determined according to a time of day that the input is received.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the end time is selected responsive to receiving the input based on a time of the receiving.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein price listings on the social networking website are temporarily adjusted within the duration to change how many tokens are required to purchase virtual gifts offered for sale on the social networking website, the virtual gifts being transferable between the members through the social networking website.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing a message submitted by a single member and a visual representation of that single member to be broadcast to all other currently connected members of the social networking website in response to a request from the single member;

deducting a first amount from an account balance for the single member if the request is received within the duration; and

deducting a second different amount from the account balance for the single member if the request is not received within the duration.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein changing the mode of the social networking website for the particular temporary time period responsive to receiving the input further comprises modifying a background color for at least some of the social networking webpages.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a discount on the social networking website within the duration.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising increasing a rate that the members of the social networking website are awarded points for updating profile descriptions within the duration.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining information regarding the birthdays of at least some of the members; and

automatically initiating at least some of said temporary adjustments to the social networking webpages in response to the occurrence of a birthday of one of the members based on the obtained information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a duration of the temporary adjustments occurring in response to the birthday is different than the duration set based on the input.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular temporary time period corresponds to a birthday celebration, an end of a work day celebration, a work break period, or a graduation celebration.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the social networking website includes a plurality of functionalities each associated with a different particular scoring threshold, and wherein the method further comprises:

comparing a current member scoring total for a particular one of the members to the particular scoring thresholds; and

enabling a particular combination of the functionalities for the particular member according to a result of the comparison, wherein the particular combination is different than another combination of the functionalities enabled for another one of the members with a different scoring total.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising assigning tokens to the members corresponding with a number of the awarded points from the duration, the tokens used for purchasing virtual gifts that are transferred between the members through the website.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising enabling a particular one of the members to vote on questions submitted by other members only when the particular member has a current assigned point total equal to or above a predetermined voting capability threshold.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying member accounts having a corresponding member-scoring total that exceeds different score thresholds; and

enabling only members of the identified member accounts to access features associated with the different score thresholds that are not available to other member accounts that do not exceed the different score thresholds.

19. A method, comprising:

associating a plurality of individuals to form a social network;

storing data identifying the social network formed by the individuals in a memory device;

transmitting electronic signaling over a network to cause a graphical user interface to be provided on a plurality of endpoints corresponding to the individuals, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to send and receive messages electronically from one of the individuals to other ones of the individuals;

scoring interactions within the social network performed via the graphical user interface;

enabling at least some of the endpoints to, using the graphical user interface, form and electronically transmit over the network a request to initiate a temporary period;

responsive to receiving over the network a request from the one of the individuals, selecting a start time and an end time for a particular temporary time period;

temporarily changing a display configuration stored in the memory device to cause the graphical user interface to display, during the particular temporary time period and at the plurality of endpoints, information identifying the one of the individuals that triggered initiation of the particular temporary time period; and

temporarily changing a scoring configuration stored in the memory device for a duration corresponding to the selected times;

wherein according to said temporary changing of the scoring configuration stored in the memory device, ones of interactions that are sent before the start time or after the end time using the graphical user interface are scored at a first non-zero rate and ones of interactions that are sent within the duration using the graphical user interface are scored at a second non-zero rate that is greater than the first non-zero rate.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

identifying an amount that a first score for a first one of the individuals increases within the particular temporary time period;

identifying an amount that a second score for a second one of the individuals increases within the particular temporary time period;

summing the identified amounts to identify a total score increase; and

increasing one of the scorings that corresponds to the one of the individuals that triggered initiation of the particular temporary time period by a percentage of the identified total score increase.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein temporarily changing the display configuration stored in the memory device to cause the graphical user interface to display, during the particular temporary time period and at the plurality of endpoints, the information identifying the one of the individuals that triggered initiation of the particular temporary time period further comprises:

temporarily changing the display configuration stored in the memory device to cause the graphical user interface to display, during the particular temporary time period and at the plurality of endpoints, contact information for the one of the individuals that triggered initiation of the particular temporary time period.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving ratings from the individuals of objects uploaded via the graphical user interface;

ranking the objects according to the ratings to identify top rated objects according to category; and

causing the top rated objects to be displayed at the plurality of endpoints.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the particular temporary time period has a duration of less than an hour.

24. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

identifying a time that a new member of the social network is referred by an existing member of the social network;

comparing the identified time with the start and end times to determine whether the identified time occurs within the duration;

increasing one of the scorings that corresponds to the existing referring member by a first predetermined amount when the identified time occurs within the duration; and

increasing the one of the scorings that corresponds to the existing referring member by a second different predetermined amount when the identified time does not occur within the duration.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising monitoring a scoring for the new member to identify score increases for the new member and increasing the scoring for the referring member by a percentage of the identified score increases.

26. An apparatus, comprising:

a processing device; and

a memory coupled to the processing device comprising instructions executable by the processing device, the processing device operable when executing the instructions to;

associate a plurality of individuals to form a social network;

store data identifying the social network formed by the individuals in a memory device;

transmit electronic signaling over a network to cause a graphical user interface to be provided on a plurality of endpoints corresponding to the individuals, wherein the graphical user interface is configured to send and receive messages electronically from one of the individuals to other ones of the individuals;

score interactions within the social network performed via the graphical user interface;

enable at least some of the endpoints to, using the graphical user interface, form and electronically transmit over the network a request to initiate a temporary time period;

responsive to receiving over the network a request from one of the individuals, select a start time and an end time for a particular temporary time period;

temporarily change a display configuration stored in the memory device to cause the graphical user interface to display, during the particular temporary time period and at the plurality of endpoints, information identifying the one of the individuals that triggered initiation of the particular temporary time period; and

temporarily change a scoring configuration stored in the memory device for a duration corresponding to the selected times;

wherein according to said temporary changing of the scoring configuration stored in the memory device, ones of interactions that are before the start time or after the end time are scored at a first non-zero rate and ones of interactions that are within the duration are scored at a second non-zero rate that is greater than the first non-zero rate.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein temporarily changing the display configuration stored in the memory device to cause the graphical user interface to display, during the particular temporary time period and at the plurality of endpoints, the information identifying the one of the individuals that triggered initiation of the particular temporary time period further comprises:

causing contact information for the one of the individuals that triggered initiation of the particular temporary time period to be displayed on the plurality of endpoints via the graphical user interface.