Degrees of separation for filtering communications

• US 8,930,480 B2
• Filed: 10/08/2013
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Appelman, Barry
• Primary Examiner(s): WASEL, MOHAMED A
• Application Number:
  US14/049,069
• Publication Number:
  US 20140108571A1
• Time in Patent Office: 455 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709227-229
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1079 of unsolicited session attempts, e.g. SPIT
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A sender'"'"'s degrees of separation from a recipient may be used to aid in spam filtering or to otherwise handle a communication. The “degrees of separation” represent a metric used to quantify whether/how the recipient is linked to the sender through intermediary people or other entities. For example, a recipient may know a first user (first degree of separation) and the first user may know a second user (second degree of separation) who knows the sender of an e-mail. In this case, the sender is separated from the recipient by two degrees of separation (by two other contacts). A level of “trust” or “legitimacy” about a sender'"'"'s communication can be inferred by looking at whether the sender is linked to an intended recipient. Typically, user contact lists (e.g., address book, buddy list, and/or white list) are evaluated to determine the number of degrees (or hops) are required to link or relate two users.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

accessing a contact list associated with the intended recipient, the contact list associated with the intended recipient identifying at least one user identifier;

accessing a contact list associated with the at least one user identifier;

determining, based on the contact list associated with the intended recipient and the contact list associated with the at least one user identifier, whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

determining, using at least one processor, whether to filter the communication based on whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying an interface to the intended recipient, prior to displaying the communication to the intended recipient, when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the interface informs the intended recipient that the sender has sent the communication to the intended recipient.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the interface comprises an interface element that allows the intended recipient to indicate that the communication should be displayed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation includes determining whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by at least one intermediary entity.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the communication to the intended recipient when the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact list associated with the intended recipient comprises at least one of an address book, a buddy list, a personal phone book, or a white list.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication is one of an email message, an instant message, an SMS message, or a telephone call.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the communication to the intended recipient when the threshold number of degrees of separation corresponds to a value of at least one and when the contact list associated with the at least one user identifier includes an identifier of the sender.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying an interface to the intended recipient, prior to displaying the communication to the intended recipient, when the threshold number of degrees of separation corresponds to a value of at least two and when an identifier of the sender is not included in the contact list associated with the intended recipient and the contact list associated with the at least one user identifier.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a computer system to:

receive a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

access a contact list associated with the intended recipient, the contact list associated with the intended recipient identifying at least one user identifier;

access a contact list associated with the at least one user identifier;

determine, based on the contact list associated with the intended recipient and the contact list associated with the at least one user identifier, whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

determine whether to filter the communication based on whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to display an interface to the intended recipient, prior to displaying the communication to the intended recipient, when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the interface is displayed to the intended recipient when the threshold number of degrees of separation corresponds to a value of at least two and when an identifier of the sender is not included in the contact list associated with the intended recipient and the contact list associated with the at least one user identifier.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the interface comprises an interface element that allows the intended recipient to indicate that the communication should be displayed.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the computer system to display the communication to the intended recipient when the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the contact list of the intended recipient comprises at least one of an address book, a buddy list, a personal phone book, or a white list.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the communication is one of an email message, an instant message, an SMS message, or a telephone call.

18. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to;

receive a communication from a sender, wherein the communication is directed to an intended recipient;

access a contact list associated with the intended recipient, the contact list associated with the intended recipient identifying at least one user identifier;

access a contact list associated with the at least one user identifier;

determine, based on the contact list associated with the intended recipient and the contact list associated with the at least one user identifier, whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than a threshold number of degrees of separation; and

determine whether to filter the communication based on whether the sender and the intended recipient are linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the communication is displayed to the intended recipient when the threshold number of degrees of separation corresponds to a value of at least one and when the contact list associated with the at least one user identifier includes an identifier of the sender.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the apparatus to display an interface to the intended recipient, prior to displaying the communication to the intended recipient, when the sender and the intended recipient are not linked by less than the threshold number of degrees of separation.