Methods and systems for providing decision-making support

• US 9,473,583 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2012
• Issued: 10/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Allen, Christina, Hosseini, Farid, Pruet, M. Christopher, Alpern, Sarah Jean Culberson
• Primary Examiner(s): DRAGOESCU, CLAUDIA B
• Application Number:
  US13/710,248
• Publication Number:
  US 20140164952A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,408 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/105 Human resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

Method, apparatus, and articles of manufacture for presenting a decision user interface to a first member of a social network service, receiving information identifying a set of interests of the first member entered at the decision user interface, searching at least one of the group consisting or profiles of members of the social network service and user decision interfaces presented to members of the social network service and, responsive to searching, providing information relating to the set of interests to the first member. The set of interests may include a field of study or an organization or an academic degree.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

presenting, by at least one computer processor, a decision user interface to a first member of a social network service;

receiving, via the decision user interface, a name of a school that the first member is interested in attending, a name of a field of study that the first member is interested in, and a name of an academic degree that the first member is interested in;

searching one of profiles of other members of the social network service or decision user interfaces of other members of the social network service, or other Internet information; and

responsive to the searching,

identifying schools that are similar schools to the school that the first member is interested in attending and displaying, automatically and without intervention of the first member, names of the similar schools on the decision user interface of the first member;

identifying other members of the social network service who are interested in the field of study and displaying, automatically and without intervention of the first member, names of the other members interested in the field of study on the decision user interface of the first member;

identifying other members of the social network service that are interested in the academic degree and displaying, automatically and without intervention of the first member, on the decision user interface of the first member, names of the other members of the social network service that are interested in the academic degree;

receiving, via the decision user interface of the first member, selection of a second member, the second member being one of the other members interested in the field of study or one of the other members interested in the academic degree; and

responsive to receiving the selection of the second member,

displaying the decision user interface of the second member to the first member;

comparing at least part of the content of the decision user interface of the second member to at least part of the content of the decision user interface of the first member; and

notifying the first member of the content on the decision user interface of the second member that is already entered on the decision user interface of the first member,

wherein the first member is enabled to view the decision user interfaces of any of the other members and to add to the decision user interface of the first member information that appears on the decision user interface of any of the other members.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the names of the similar schools are selectable and wherein the names of the similar schools, when selected, enable the first member to gain access to an organization information display of the similar schools.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the names of the other members interested in the field of study are selectable and wherein the names of the other members interested in the field of study, when selected, enable the first member to gain access to one of member profiles of, or the decision user interfaces of, the other members interested in the field of study.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising presenting to the decision user interface of the first member names of schools that offer the academic degree.

5. A machine-readable hardware storage device having embedded therein a set of instructions which, when executed by a machine, causes execution of operations comprising:

presenting a decision user interface to a first member of a social network service;

receiving, via the decision user interface, a name of a school that the first member is interested in attending, a name of a field of study that the first member is interested in, and a name of an academic degree that the first member is interested in obtaining;

searching one of profiles of other members of the social network service or decision user interfaces of other members of the social network service, or other Internet information; and

responsive to searching,

identifying schools that are similar schools to the school that the first member is interested in attending and displaying, automatically and without intervention of the first member, names of the similar schools on the decision user interface of the first member;

identifying other members of the social network service who are interested in the field of study and displaying, automatically and without intervention of the first member, names of the other members interested in the field of study on the decision user interface of the first member;

identifying other members of the social network service that are interested in the academic degree and displaying on the decision user interface of the first member, automatically and without intervention of the first member, names of other members of the social network service who are interested in the academic degree;

receiving, via the decision user interface of the first member, selection of a second member, the second member being one of the other members interested in the field of study or one of the other members interested in the academic degree; and

responsive to receiving the selection of the second member,

displaying the decision user interface of the second member to the first member;

comparing at least part of the content of the decision user interface of the second member to at least part of the content of the decision user interface of the first member; and

notifying the first member of the content on the decision user interface of the second member that is already entered on the decision user interface of the first member,

wherein the first member is enabled to view the decision user interfaces of any of the other members and to add to the decision user interface of the first member information that appears on the decision user interface of any of the other members.

6. The machine-readable hardware storage device of claim 5 the operations further comprising enabling the first member to provide information presented at the decision user interface of the first member to third parties.

7. The machine-readable hardware storage device of claim 5 the operations further comprising enabling the first member to view the decision user interface of additional members of the social network service and add to the decision user interface of the first member information that appears on the decision user interface of the additional members.

8. The machine-readable hardware storage device of claim 5 wherein the names of the similar schools are selectable and wherein the names of the similar schools, when selected, enable the first member to gain access to an organization information display of the similar schools.

9. The machine-readable hardware storage device of claim 5 wherein the names of other members interested in the field of study are selectable and wherein the names of the other members who are interested in the field of study, when selected, enable the first member to gain access to one of member profiles of or decision user interfaces of, the other members who are interested in the field of study.

10. The machine-readable hardware storage device of claim 5 the operations further comprising presenting to the decision user interface of the first member the names of schools that offer the academic degree.

11. A system comprising:

at least one computer processor and computer storage configured to;

present a decision user interface to a first member of a social network service;

receive, via the decision user interface, a name of a school that the first member is interested in attending, a name of a field of study that the first member is interested in, and a name of an academic degree that the first member is interested in;

search one of profiles of other members of the social network service or decision user interfaces of other members of the social network service, or other Internet information; and

responsive to searching,

identify schools that are similar schools to the school that the first member is interested in attending and display, automatically and without intervention of the first member, names of the similar schools to the decision user interface of the first member;

identify other members of the social network service who are interested in the field of study and display, automatically and without intervention of the first member, names of the other members interested in the field of study on the decision user interface of the first member;

identify other members of the social network service that are interested in the academic degree and display on the decision user interface of the first member, automatically and without intervention of the first member, names of other members of the social network service who are interested in the academic degree;

receive, via the decision user interface of the first member, selection of a second member, the second member being one of the other members interested in the field of study or one of the other members interested in the academic degree; and

responsive to receipt of the selection of the second member,

display the decision user interface of the second member to the first member;

compare at least part of the content of the decision user interface of the second member to at least part of the content of the decision user interface of the first member; and

notify the first member of the content on the decision user interface of the second member that is already entered on the decision user interface of the first member,

wherein the first member is enabled to view the decision user interfaces of any of the other members and to add to the decision user interface of the first member information that appears on the decision user interface of any of the other members.

12. The system of claim 11, the at least one processor and computer storage further configured to provide second members of the social network service with access to the decision user interface of the first member and to enable the second members to provide comments to the first member about the school via the decision user interface of the first member.