Federation and interoperability between social networks

• US 8,886,817 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2008
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ting, Chyr-Chong, Hyder, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): Cheema, Umar
• Application Number:
  US12/125,626
• Publication Number:
  US 20090292814A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,364 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

Communications between social networks are enabled via authentication that provides single-sign-on (SSO) authentication of users such as individual users or social networks or social network services that desire access to network resources on a particular social network. The particular network requests authentication of the requesting user(s), and based on an authentication result the particular network provides or denies access to the resources. A social network services database maintains a listing of resources of different social networks, that a user can search to determine where to find resources on other networks. The user can then query the social networks hosting those resources or their social network services for access, and the networks or services can authenticate the user before granting access according to any conditions that the hosting social networks or social network services may choose to apply.

Claims

1. A network device configured to manage communications, comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data; and

a processor to execute instructions that perform actions for;

receiving a request from a first social network to authenticate a user, wherein the request identifies the user and the first social network;

processing the request and providing authentication results to the first social network;

creating a session record, wherein the session record identifies the user and the first social network;

receiving a request from the first social network regarding availability to the user for a list of resources on a second social network; and

determining those resources on the list that are available to the user on the second social network and a cost to use those resources based on the request and returning the determined list to the first social network, wherein the determined list indicates conditions for the first social network to interoperate with the second social network to access, employ at least a related action to pay the cost based at least in part on an amount of an imbalance of sharing resources between the first social network and the second social network, and make available to the user through the first social network the resources in the determined list.

2. The network device of claim 1, wherein the processor further performs actions for:

receiving a request from the second network to authenticate the user, wherein the request identifies the user and the second social network;

processing the request and providing authentication results to the second social network; and

adding an identification of the second social network to the session record.

3. The network device of claim 1, wherein the processor further performs actions for:

determining if an existing session record identifying the user exists, and if yes then adding an identification of the first social network to the existing session record instead of performing the step of creating the session record; and

determining if a time period since the existing session record was last updated exceeds a predetermined threshold value, and if yes then deleting the existing session record.

4. The network device of claim 1, wherein the resources in the list comprise at least one of a profile of a user, a web page of a user, a list of members of the second social network, or multimedia information associated with a user.

5. The network device of claim 1, wherein the processor further performs actions for:

receiving activity information from the first social network regarding activity of the user with the first social network; and

updating the session record based on the received activity information.

6. The network device of claim 1, wherein the processor further performs actions for:

receiving from a social network, access control lists indicating resources on the social network and conditions for accessing the indicated resources from outside the social network;

storing the received access control lists; and

accessing the received access control lists in response to a query from an other social network.

7. A network device configured to manage communications, comprising:

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

a processor to execute instructions that perform actions for;

sending a request to a social network services database to authenticate a user, wherein the request includes identification information for the user;

receiving authentication results for the user from the social network services database;

providing the user with access to resources of a first social network, based on the received authentication results;

receiving a request from the user;

querying the service provider for a list of resources available to the user on a second social network and a cost to use those resources;

receiving the list of resources from the social network services database, wherein the list indicates conditions for the first social network to interoperate with the second social network to access, employ at least a related action to pay the cost based at least in part on an amount of an imbalance of sharing resources between the first social network and the second social network, and make available to the user through the first social network the resources in the list;

requesting information from the second social network based on the request from the user and the received list of resources; and

receiving requested information from the second social network.

8. The network device of claim 7, wherein the processor further executes instructions for actions for:

providing profile information of the user to the second social network.

9. The network device of claim 7, wherein the processor further executes instructions for actions for:

providing information to the social network services database regarding the received request from the user, for inclusion in a session record of the social network services database, wherein the session record identifies the user.

10. A method for managing communications, comprising:

receiving a request from a first social network to authenticate a user, wherein the request identifies the user and the first social network;

processing the request and providing authentication results to the first social network;

creating a session record, wherein the session record identifies the user and the first social network;

receiving a request from the first social network for a list of resources available to the user on a second social network; and

determining the list of resources based on the request and a cost to use those resources and returning the list to the first social network, wherein the list indicates conditions for the first social network to interoperate with the second social network to access, employ at least a related action to pay the cost based at least in part on an amount of an imbalance of sharing resources between the first social network and the second social network, and make available to the user through the first social network resources in the list.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a request from the second social network to authenticate the user, wherein the request identifies the user and the second social network;

processing the request and providing authentication results to the second social network; and

adding an identification of the second social network to the session record.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

providing the user with access to resources of the first social network, based on the authentication results;

requesting information from the second social network based on a request from the user and the determined list of resources; and

receiving requested information from the second social network.

13. A computer readable non-transitive storage medium that includes data and instructions, wherein the execution of the instructions provides for social network content over a network by enabling actions, comprising:

receiving a request from a first social network to authenticate a user, wherein the request identifies the user and the first social network;

processing the request and providing authentication results to the first social network;

creating a session record, wherein the session record identifies the user and the first social network;

receiving a request from the first social network regarding availability to the user for a list of resources on a second social network; and

determining those resources on the list that are available to the user on the second social network based on the request and a cost to use those resources and returning the determined list to the first social network, wherein the determined list indicates conditions for the first social network to interoperate with the second social network to access, employ at least a related action to pay the cost based at least in part on an amount of an imbalance of sharing resources between the first social network and the second social network, and make available to the user through the first social network the resources in the determined list.

14. The medium of claim 13, the actions further comprising:

receiving a request from the second social network to authenticate the user, wherein the request identifies the user and the second social network;

processing the request and providing authentication results to the second social network; and

adding an identification of the second social network to the session record.

15. The medium of claim 13, the actions further comprising:

providing the user with access to resources of the first social network, based on the authentication results;

requesting information from the second social network based on a request from the user and the determined list of resources; and

receiving requested information from the second social network.

16. A system that provides social network content over a network, comprising:

a first network device that includes;

a transceiver for communicating with at least one mobile device; and

a processor for executing instructions that perform actions, comprising;

receiving a request from a second network device to authenticate a user, wherein the request identifies the user and a social network;

processing the request and providing authentication results to the second network device;

creating a session record, wherein the session record identifies the user and the social network;

receiving a request from the second network device for a list of resources that are available to the user on an other social network;

determining those resources on the list that are available to the user based on the request and a cost to use those resources and returning the determined list to the second network device, wherein the determined list indicates conditions for the social network to interoperate with the other social network to access, employ at least a related action to pay the cost based at least in part on an amount of an imbalance of sharing resources between the first social network and the second social network, and make available to the user through the social network the resources in the determined list; and

the second network device that further includes;

a transceiver for communicating with at least the first network device over the network; and

a processor for executing instructions to perform actions, comprising;

communicating with at least the first network device; and

downloading social network content from at least the social network and the other social network.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the second network device is a mobile device and enables further actions, including:

receiving a request from the mobile device to authenticate the user, wherein the request identifies the user and the mobile device;

processing the request and providing authentication results to the mobile device; and

adding an identification of the mobile device to the session record.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the first network device enables further actions, including:

providing the user with access to resources of a first social network, based on the authentication results; and

receiving and processing an authentication request from the other social network to authenticate the user, wherein the other social network enables download of content to the second network device based on a reply to the authentication request.

19. A mobile device for accessing social network data, comprising:

a transceiver for communicating with at least one network device; and

a processor for executing instructions that perform actions, comprising;

sending a request to a social network services database to authenticate a user, wherein the request includes identification information for the user;

receiving authentication results for the user from the social network services database;

querying the social network services database for a list of resources on a first social network that are determined to be available to the user and a cost to use those resources;

receiving the determined list of resources from the social network services database, wherein the determined list indicates conditions for a second social network to interoperate with the first social network to access, employ at least a related action to pay the cost based at least in part on an amount of an imbalance of sharing resources between the first social network and the second social network, and make available to the user through the first social network the resources in the determined list;

sending a request for information from the second social network based on the received determined list of resources, wherein the request identifies the user and enables the second social network to send an authentication request to the social network services database; and

receiving requested information from the first social network that is provided to the second social network.

20. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the processor is operative to enable actions for:

providing information to the social network services database regarding information received from the first social network;

querying the service provider for a list of resources on the second social network in response to a request from the user;

receiving another list of resources of the second social network that are available to the user;

sending a query to the second social network based on the received list of resources of the second social network and the request from the user, wherein the query identifies the user and enables the second social network to request authentication of the user; and

receiving a reply to the query to the second social network, wherein the reply includes a personal profile of the user for the second social network.

21. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the processor is operative to enable actions for:

updating session information of the user stored in the social network services database, based on replies from the first social network and the second social network.

22. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the processor is operative to enable actions for:

processing a commercial transaction based on session information of the user stored in the social network services database, wherein the session information indicates interactions of the user with different social networks.