Method and arrangement for supporting analysis of social networks in a communication network
First Claim
1. A method executed by a partitioning device for supporting social network analysis of terminal users in a communication network, comprising:
- obtaining, from data records available in the communication network, traffic data and location data related to calls made by said users during a period of time, wherein the traffic data and location data related to any calls made by a given user during the period of time indicate one or more locations at which that given user made those calls;
determining a representative geographical location for individual ones of said users based on said traffic data and location data, wherein the representative geographical location of a user is a location representative of where the user more often than not makes his or her calls, as indicated by the traffic data and location data obtained for calls made by that given user during the period of time;
forming a user partition that defines a group of said users having representative geographical locations within a predetermined area; and
providing said user partition to a social network analysis function.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for supporting social network analysis of terminal users in a communication network. Users being located relatively close to each other when making calls are more likely to be socially “connected” than users having mutually more remote locations. A partitioning unit (100) determines a representative geographical location for individual users based on traffic data and location data (102,104). User partitions are then made based on the users'"'"' representative geographical locations such that one particular user partition contains users having representative geographical locations within a limited geographical area. The user partition is then provided to a social network analysis function (106) for further analysis (108).
6 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method executed by a partitioning device for supporting social network analysis of terminal users in a communication network, comprising:
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obtaining, from data records available in the communication network, traffic data and location data related to calls made by said users during a period of time, wherein the traffic data and location data related to any calls made by a given user during the period of time indicate one or more locations at which that given user made those calls; determining a representative geographical location for individual ones of said users based on said traffic data and location data, wherein the representative geographical location of a user is a location representative of where the user more often than not makes his or her calls, as indicated by the traffic data and location data obtained for calls made by that given user during the period of time; forming a user partition that defines a group of said users having representative geographical locations within a predetermined area; and providing said user partition to a social network analysis function. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 21, 22, 23, 25)
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11. A partitioning device configured to support social network analysis of terminal users in a communication network, comprising a processor and a memory containing instructions executable by said processor whereby said device is operative to:
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obtain, from data records available in the communication network, traffic data and location data related to calls made by said users during a period of time, wherein the traffic data and location data related to any calls made by a given user during the period of time indicate one or more locations at which that given user made those calls; determine a representative geographical location for individual ones of said users based on said traffic data and location data, wherein the representative geographical location of a user is a location representative of where the user more often than not makes his or her calls, as indicated by the traffic data and location data obtained for calls made by that given user during the period of time; form a user partition that defines a group of users having representative geographical locations within a predetermined area; and provide said user partition to a social network analysis function. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26)
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24. A method of facilitating analysis of social connections amongst a population of terminal users in a communication network, the method comprising:
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for each of the terminal users in said population, obtaining, from data records available in the communication network, data indicating locations that the user has previously been at when participating in communication sessions via the communication network during a period of time and determining, based on that data, a representative geographical location for the user which represents the user as more often than not being at that location when participating in communication sessions, as indicated by the data obtained for the user; partitioning said population of users into different partitions of users that are likely to be socially connected, by defining different partitions as including different groups of users having representative geographical locations within different limited areas; and assisting a social network analysis function to analyze, for each of said partitions, the actual existence and/or extent of social connections amongst users in that same partition, rather than analyzing the actual existence and/or extent of social connections amongst all users in said population as a whole, by sending information indicating each of said partitions to the social network analysis function. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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Specification