Bootstrapping social networks using augmented peer to peer distributions of social networking services

• US 9,390,396 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2007
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Inventors: Sderstrm, Stig Gustav Victor, Davis, Marc E., Malmkvist, Carl Olof Daniel, Nordin, Per Staffan Andreas
• Primary Examiner(s): Survillo, Oleg
• Assistant Examiner(s): GOODWIN, SCHQUITA D
• Application Number:
  US11/866,601
• Publication Number:
  US 20080134052A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,205 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-206, 709/202, 709/207, 705/319, 705/14, 713/201, 455/410, 715/744, 715/733, 704/260
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

A mobile device, system, and method are directed towards enabling a social network member to bootstrap another person'"'"'s membership to a social network application and to send an invite using an augmented peer to peer distribution mechanism. The member may bootstrap membership by providing information about the invitee. A server may then determine sharable social networking information, to include within the invite, such as personal information about the member, and/or about the invitee. The invite is then automatically modified to make it appear as though it is sent by the member, by spoofing an identifier of the source of the invite. A link or other information associated with a link to the sharable social network application may be automatically included into the invite, where the link is configured to direct the invitee to a configuration of the social network application appropriate for the invitee'"'"'s mobile device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a selectable user interface that enables a member of an electronic social network application to generate an electronic invite to a recipient;

receiving an identifier of the recipient of the electronic invite;

automatically augmenting the electronic invite with personally identifying information pertaining to the recipient, the identifying information comprising at least one item of information known only by a limited group of people prior to the electronic invite being generated, the limited group of people including the recipient and the member associated with the augmented electronic invite, wherein the identifying information is known from prior social interactions of the recipient and member;

automatically spoofing a source identifier of the augmented electronic invite to make the augmented electronic invite appear to be originating from the member rather than from a server device, the spoofing being implemented to minimize a likelihood that the augmented electronic invite is interpreted as spam;

transmitting a first portion of the augmented electronic invite to the recipient;

receiving a request from the recipient to access another portion of the augmented electronic invite;

determining a capability of a computing device associated with the request; and

transmitting a second portion of the augmented electronic invite to the recipient with link information to a version of the electronic social networking application configured to be compatible with the capability of the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

registering the recipient as another member to the electronic social network application prior to transmitting the first portion of the augmented electronic invite to the recipient.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically augmenting the electronic invite further comprises automatically augmenting the electronic invite with shareable social networking information that comprises at least one of information about a current location of the member, a current location of the recipient, information about a common friend known by both the member and the recipient, a graphical image of the member or a graphical image of the recipient.

4. The method of claim 1, automatically spoofing a source identifier further comprises automatically replacing at least one of a network address associated with the server device to at least one of a network address, a name, or an alias associated with the member.

5. A system comprising:

a processor;

an electronic social network application stored in a non-transitory storage medium that is configured for execution by the processor to perform actions, including;

transmitting, over an electronic communications network, a user interface to a computing device of a member of the electronic social network application, the transmitting causing the user interface to be displayed on a display at the member'"'"'s computing device and enabling the member of the electronic social network application to generate an electronic invite to a recipient to participate in the electronic social network application; and

an electronic augmented invite component stored in the non-transitory storage medium that is configured for execution by the processor to perform actions, including

receiving an identifier of the recipient of the electronic invite from the member via the user interface and the electronic communications network;

registering the recipient as another member of the electronic social network application prior to transmitting the electronic invite to the recipient;

automatically augmenting the electronic invite by the augmented invite component with identifying information pertaining to the recipient to minimize a likelihood that the augmented electronic invite is interpreted as spam, the identifying information comprising at least one item of information about at least one of the member and the recipient known only by a limited group of people prior to the electronic invite being generated, the limited group of people including the recipient and the member associated with the augmented electronic invite, wherein the identifying information known only by a limited group of people prior to the electronic invite being generated is known from prior social interactions of the recipient and the member;

automatically spoofing a source identifier of the augmented electronic invite to make the augmented electronic invite appear to be originating from the member rather than from the augmented invite component, wherein the spoofing is performed in a manner that minimizes the likelihood that the augmented electronic invite is interpreted as spam;

automatically inserting link information into the augmented electronic invite to the electronic social network application; and

transmitting at least a first portion of the augmented electronic invite comprising the inserted link information to the electronic social network application to the recipient'"'"'s computing device over an electronic communications network, the transmitting of the augmented electronic invite enabling access, by the recipient using the recipient'"'"'s computing device, to the augmented electronic invite and enabling access to the electronic social network application via the augmented electronic invite'"'"'s link information.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the processor further performs un-registering the recipient when it is determined that the recipient failed to select the link information.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the first portion of the augmented electronic invite further comprises a link to another portion of the augmented electronic invite, and wherein the augmented invite component further performs:

receiving information about a computing device associated with the recipient based, in part, on transmitting of the first portion, the first portion of the augmented electronic invite further comprising a link to another portion of the augmented electronic invite; and

employing the information about the computing device to dynamically reconfigure the link information to be associated with a version of the electronic social network application useable by the computing device.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein automatically augmenting the electronic invite further comprises including shareable electronic social networking information that comprises at least one of a representation of other members of the member'"'"'s social network, a representation of other members of the member'"'"'s social network that are also known to be in the recipient'"'"'s social network, information about the member, information about the recipient, a location of the member and the recipient, or information about the recipient known to the member.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein transmitting at least the first portion further comprises transmitting the first portion using a first communication mechanism and transmitting another portion using a different communication mechanism.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein automatically spoofing a source identifier further comprises automatically replacing a short code with an identifier associated with the member, including at least one of a name, a network address, or an alias.

11. A non-transitory storage device storing computer-readable instructions that when executed cause at least one processor to perform actions comprising:

transmitting, over an electronic communications network, a user interface to a computing device of a member of the electronic social network application, the transmitting causing the user interface to be displayed on a display at the member'"'"'s computing device and enabling the member of the electronic social network application to generate an electronic invite to a recipient to participate in the electronic social network application;

receiving an identifier of the recipient from the member via the user interface and the electronic communications network;

registering the recipient that enables access to the digital object prior to transmitting an electronic invite to the recipient to participate in the electronic social networking application;

automatically augmenting an electronic invite with personally identifying information pertaining to the recipient to minimize a likelihood that the augmented electronic invite is interpreted as spam, the identifying information comprising at least one item of information about at least one of the member and the recipient known only by a limited group of people prior to the electronic invite being generated, the limited group of people including the recipient and the member associated with the augmented electronic invite, wherein the identifying information known only by a limited group of people prior to the electronic invite being generated is known from prior social interactions of the recipient and the member;

automatically spoofing a source identifier of the augmented electronic invite to make the augmented electronic invite appear to be originating from the member rather than from the augmented invite component, the spoofing being directed towards minimizing the likelihood that the augmented electronic invite is interpreted as spam;

automatically inserting link information into the augmented electronic invite to the digital object; and

transmitting at least a first portion of the augmented electronic invite comprising the inserted link information to the electronic social network application to the recipient'"'"'s computing device over the electronic communications network, the transmitting of the augmented electronic invite enabling access, by the recipient using the recipient'"'"'s computing device, to the augmented electronic invite and enabling access to the electronic social network application via the augmented electronic invite'"'"'s link information.

12. The non-transitory storage device of claim 11, the digital object further comprises at least one of a shareable electronic social network application, a photograph, an audio file, a profile, an address book, a buddy list, game data, or a video file.

13. The non-transitory storage device of claim 11, the actions further comprising:

receiving information about a computing device associated with the recipient based, in part, on transmitting of the first portion; and

employing the information about the computing device to dynamically reconfigure the linked information to be associated with at least a portion of a version of the digital object immediately usable by the computing device.

14. The non-transitory storage device of claim 11, the actions further comprising un-registering the recipient when it is determined that the recipient failed to select the link information.

15. The non-transitory storage device of claim 11, the digital object is configured to enable the recipient to register another recipient as a member enabled to access the digital object.

16. A network device comprising:

a transceiver configured to send and receive data over an electronic communication network;

a processor; and

a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions for execution by the processor to perform actions, including;

transmitting, over an electronic communications network, a user interface to a computing device of a member of the electronic social network application, the transmitting causing the user interface to be displayed on a display at the member'"'"'s computing device and enabling the member of the electronic social network application to generate an electronic invite to a recipient to participate in the electronic social network application;

receiving, from the member of the electronic social networking application, an identifier of the recipient from the member via the user interface and the electronic communications network;

automatically registering the recipient to the electronic social network application prior to the electronic invite being sent to the recipient;

automatically augmenting the electronic invite with personally identifying information pertaining to the recipient to minimize the likelihood that the augmented electronic invite is interpreted as spam, the identifying information comprising at least one item of information about at least one of the member and the recipient known only by a limited group of people prior to the electronic invite being generated, the limited group of people including the recipient and the member associated with the augmented electronic invite, wherein the identifying information known only by a limited group of people prior to the electronic invite being generated is known from prior social interactions of the recipient and the member;

automatically spoofing an internet protocol source identifier of the augmented electronic invite to make the augmented electronic invite appear to be originating from the member rather than from the network device, the spoofing is performed in a manner that minimizes the likelihood that the augmented electronic invite is interpreted as spam;

automatically inserting link information into the augmented electronic invite to the electronic social network application; and

transmitting at least a first portion of the augmented electronic invite comprising the inserted link information to the electronic social network application to the recipient'"'"'s computing device over the electronic communications network, the transmitting of the augmented electronic invite enabling access, by the recipient using the recipient'"'"'s computing device, to the augmented electronic invite and enabling access to the electronic social network application via the augmented electronic invite'"'"'s link information.

17. The network device of claim 16, wherein the processor further performs:

un-registering the recipient when it is determined that the recipient failed to select the link information.

18. The network device of claim 16, wherein the processor further performs:

receiving information about a mobile device associated with the recipient based, in part, on transmitting of the first portion; and

employing the information about the mobile device, to dynamically reconfigure the link information to be associated with at least a portion of a version of the digital object immediately useable by the mobile device.

19. The network device of claim 16, wherein the processor further performs including shareable social networking information that comprises at least one of a current location of the member, a current location of the recipient, information about the member'"'"'s interests, or information about the recipient'"'"'s interest.

20. A non-transitory storage device for storing thereon computer-readable instructions that when executed cause at least a processor to perform actions comprising:

providing a selectable user interface that enables a member of an electronic social network application to generate an electronic invite to the electronic social network application;

receiving an identifier of the recipient of the electronic invite;

automatically augmenting the electronic invite with personally identifying information pertaining to the recipient, the identifying information comprising at least one item of information known only by a limited group of people prior to the electronic invite being generated, the limited group of people including the recipient and the member associated with the augmented electronic invite, wherein the identifying information is known from prior social interactions of the recipient and the member;

automatically spoofing a source identifier of the augmented electronic invite to make the augmented electronic invite appear to be originating from the member rather than from a server device, the spoofing being implemented to minimize a likelihood that the augmented electronic invite is interpreted as spam;

transmit a first portion of the augmented electronic invite to the recipient;

receive a request from the recipient to access another portion of the augmented electronic invite;

determine a capability of a computing device associated with the request; and

transmit a second portion of the augmented electronic invite to the recipient with link information to a version of the electronic social networking application configured to be compatible with the capability of the computing device.