Social Networking Patents (Class 705/319)
  • Patent number: 9639892
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention comprise systems, computer program products, and methods for a financial and social management system that provides improved tracking and management related to how, where, when, and with whom a user enters into activities. The financial and social management system captures activity information and images from various sources of information, including but not limited to social networking accounts, e-receipts, location determination devices, and the like, and associates the activity information and images with the activities. The financial and social management system aggregates the activity information for a number of activities based on the location, user, entity, category, cost, time period, or the like and displays the aggregated activity information in an activity review interface. The financial and social management system may supplement the aggregated activity information with educational data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Elizabeth S. Votaw, Laura Corinne Bondesen, Matthew A. Calman, Katherine Dintenfass, Candice Michelle Jones, Charles Karim Aweida, Parker Holt Bossier, Rebecca A. Chen, Nandhita Kumar, Min Zhao
  • Patent number: 9639893
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention comprise systems, computer program products, and methods for a financial and social management system that provides improved tracking and management related to how, where, when, and with whom a user enters into activities. The financial and social management system captures activity information and images from various sources of information, including but not limited to social networking accounts, e-receipts, location determination devices, and the like, and associates the activity information and images with the activities. The financial and social management system aggregates the activity information for a number of activities based on the location, user, entity, category, cost, time period, or the like and displays the aggregated activity information in an activity review interface. The financial and social management system may supplement the aggregated activity information with educational data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Elizabeth S. Votaw, Laura Corinne Bondesen, Matthew A. Calman, Katherine Dintenfass, Candice Michelle Jones, Charles Karim Aweida, Parker Holt Bossier, Rebecca A. Chen, Nandhita Kumar, Min Zhao
  • Patent number: 9632972
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for determining influence in a social community. In one aspect, a method includes identifying a user in a community; determining an influence score to be associated with the user in the community for a particular topic, including: determining a reach of one or more communications that relate to the particular topic that have been distributed from the user to other users in the community, and evaluating the reach as compared to the reach of one or more communications distributed from other users in the community for the particular topic; and storing the influence score in association with the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Emily K. Moxley, Vinod Anupam, Hobart Sze, Dani Suleman, Khanh B. Nguyen
  • Patent number: 9633086
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for goal-based user matching among social networking environments. In a typical embodiment, a querying user is asked to respond to a series of questions related to goals, criteria, and criteria priorities (and, optionally, a desired “degree” of separation among other users). The querying user will submit his/her responses, which are then parsed and prioritized accordingly. Based on the responses, social networking sites are then searched to identify a set (e.g., at least one) of candidate users that are potential collaboration partners with the querying user. This set of candidate users may be arranged in a list and sorted according to a best match to the querying user's responses. The list can then be provided to the querying user. In addition, invites can be sent to the set of candidate users to invite such users to connect/collaborate with the querying user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Peter A. Coldicott, Eoin Lane, Brendan J. McCormick, Mei Y. Selvage
  • Patent number: 9628429
    Abstract: A system and method is disclosed for determining why a first user has indicated a desire to associate with a second user in an online social network. The first user initiates a request to associate with the second user. When the request is received at the system of the subject technology, one or more signals related to how the first user discovered the second user in the social network are determined, and a message is generated based on the one or more signals. A notification is provided to the second user that includes the message and an indication of the request to convey why the first user indicated a desire to associate with the second user. In some aspects, the subject technology will determine and display, in the notification, common interests that the users share so that the notified user can better evaluate the request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Gopinath Neelambaran Kallayil
  • Patent number: 9614920
    Abstract: A system and method for providing a suggestion to a first user about adding a second user to a social group of the first user based at least in part on the context of an interaction between the first user and the second user. A connection application receives first user and second user activity on the third-party website responsive to authenticating the first user and the second user on the third-party website. The connection application identifies an interaction between the first user and the second user on the third-party website and determines the context for the interaction between the first user and the second user on the third-party website. The connection application identifies a group that the first user created on the social network based on the identified context and provides a suggestion to the first user that the first user add the second user to the group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Ayush Agarwal, Francis Ma, Seth Sternberg
  • Patent number: 9600800
    Abstract: A social environment is provided by creating an object in response to recognition of an entity in a portion of web content, wherein the object represents the entity, the object is associated with a type selected from a set of types, and the type is associated with a schema selected from a set of schemas, where the social environment includes a set of objects including the object, wherein the objects are instances of corresponding types in a rich system of predefined types, the schemas are associated with the types, metadata is associated with the objects, and there is at least one relationship between at least two objects selected from the set of objects, where the set of objects and the metadata are extensible, such that extensions provided by a first user are available for use by a second user. In one example, metadata provided by a first user is only available to a second user having a relationship with the first user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Yahoo! Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew S. Tomkins, Raghu Ramakrishnan, Shanmugasundaram Ravikumar
  • Patent number: 9595020
    Abstract: A dynamic media caption apparatus and method in a social network environment. Included is a user interface to define syntax and distribution rules for a media caption in a social network; a distribution rules engine to understand the syntax and distribution rules defined in the user interface for the media caption and output a media caption that is customized according to the distribution rules; and a distribution manager to translate the customized media caption output by the distribution rules engine to a language understandable by the social network, generate the customized media caption in the language understandable by the social network and output the translated customized media caption to the social network, the customized media caption changing according to the distribution rules and a relationship to the user of a viewer of the media caption on the social network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Lisa Seacat DeLuca, Jenny S. Li
  • Patent number: 9590943
    Abstract: A system, method and apparatus for creating scripts to provide offline prompts in a social networking application operating on a client device are provided. History data for a user of the social networking application is received at a server. A script is created by the server based on the history data for the at least one user. The script, when executed by a client device remote from the server and operated by the user, provides a prioritized list of user identifiers on the social networking application. The script is sent by the server to the client device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: salesforce.com, inc.
    Inventor: Jason Schroeder
  • Patent number: 9591091
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a first notification through a real-time push service. The first notification includes a subset of user-facing information of an object having one or more states, the subset being determined at a first point in time. A second notification is received through the real-time push service. The second notification is an update to the user-facing information of the object, and the update may be a subset of user-facing information determined at a second point in time after the first point in time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard Kenneth Zadorozny, Mohit Talwar, Lev Popov, Rose Yao
  • Patent number: 9584608
    Abstract: Methods and systems for monitoring interesting subjects. A method including: selecting, based on a first collection of interesting subjects, a set of critical nodes including at least one critical node which participates in one or more interesting subjects in the first collection; and monitoring contents posted by the one or more critical nodes in the set so as to find a second collection of interesting subjects. The set of critical nodes which participate in one or more interesting subjects in the first collection of interesting subjects is selected based on the first collection, as objects to be monitored, thereby reducing the number of contents posted by the nodes to be monitored as compared with monitoring all the user nodes, so that interesting subjects such as hot news or hot events can be found in real time with high efficiency and low cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Min Gong, Guoqiang Hu, Yi Qi, Yu Wang, Junchi Yan
  • Patent number: 9563923
    Abstract: During a feedback technique, a system that provides a social network requests feedback regarding an initial connection strength associated with an edge between two nodes in the social graph, which are associated with an entity and a counterparty, respectively. Note that the social graph represents interactions among users of the social network. Based on the feedback, the system determines a directional asymmetry between revised connection strengths received from the entity and the counterparty. Then, the system performs a remedial action based on the determined directional asymmetry, such as adjusting the connection strength of the edge. In addition, the remedial action may include: feedback about an accuracy of the initial connection strength, estimating a power distance between the entity and the counterparty, and/or encouraging interaction between the entity and the counterparty.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation
    Inventors: Sanjay Sachdev, Abhishek Nigam
  • Patent number: 9565145
    Abstract: This application discloses a method implemented at a server to control information items shared on an instant messaging platform. The server monitors information sharing activities by a public account of the instant messaging platform. The public account is supported by a third party application authorized by the instant messaging platform and has connection with a plurality of individual user accounts of the instant messaging platform. When the amount of information shared by the public account exceeds a predefined threshold, the server partitions the shared information into multiple categories and measures user activities from the plurality of individual user accounts on the categorized shared information. The server selects a policy of restricting the public account from sharing information with the plurality of individual user accounts based on the measurement result, and applies the policy to the public account.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2017
    Assignee: TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Jianbo Zou, Maowei Yang
  • Patent number: 9557972
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system for code recommendation and share, including: an editor plug-in extracting source code unit information of a developer by interlocking with an editor of the developer; and a code recommendation server including a code repository storing code data, wherein the code recommendation server selects recommendation code data in the code repository through a code recommendation algorithm based on the source code unit information of the developer extracted in the editor plug-in.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignees: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Cin Young Hur, Tae Dong Lee
  • Patent number: 9554252
    Abstract: A method and system are provided for coordinating visits to loved ones incapable of leaving their particular place of domicile. A temporal and location dependent event notification system is provided that allows users of mobile device to be networked to one another and receive updates centered around visits to the debilitated loved one. Following the occurrence of a number of predetermined events, the system and method presents a message to the network members suggesting that members perform an action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Inventor: Kate Arney-Cimino
  • Patent number: 9554258
    Abstract: A system or method for providing recommended items for presentation to users and/or consideration by vehicle systems may be executable to: retrieve social network data associated with a user; extract a keyword and/or a key phrase from the social network data; and determine a preference model that includes a frequency analysis associated with the keyword and/or the key phrase and indicating how often the keyword and/or the key phrase are observed in the social network data. The system may further receive a request for content data; search a content database to retrieve one or more content items based on the frequency analysis associated with the preference model; generate one or more recommended items for the user or for a vehicle system from the one or more content items; and provide the one or more recommended items for presentation to the user or for processing by the vehicle system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Dustin Harber, Vinuth Rai, Roger D. Melen
  • Patent number: 9552055
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and edges, accessing user-concept scores for a first set of users nodes of the plurality for nodes, respectively, generating a recommendation-algorithm for estimating recommended user-concept scores for all user-concept pairs in the first set of user nodes and the plurality of concept nodes, and calculating recommended user-concept scores for a second set of user nodes of the plurality of nodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Jun Li, Fei Guo, Bradley Green
  • Patent number: 9544431
    Abstract: System and method for intelligent call blocking with block mode are provided. Said system comprises at least one of a local number database and a cloud number database, as well as a monitoring module used for monitoring the phone number of mobile terminal and preprocessing, an analyzing module used for analyzing obtained phone number by means of at least one of the local number database and the cloud number database and synthesizing marking information that is obtained by such analyzing, a displaying module used for displaying said marking information in a set area of said mobile terminal, a phone number marking module used for receiving marking information that is inputted by the user and is correlated with said phone number and delivering said marking information to the cloud number database; wherein, said local number database stores a part of or all of the phone numbers and corresponding marking information which have been verified and are stored in said cloud number database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: SHANGHAI CHULE (COOTEK) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD.
    Inventors: Kan Zhang, Meng Zhang, Wenyu Ye, Teng Ren
  • Patent number: 9537706
    Abstract: Information related to apparently successful matches between two entities is collected, and culled based on a later indication that the match failed. Matches between two entities may be generated based on comparative information with other entities who appear to share some characteristics or preferences. Matches may be based on actual actions, in contrast to expressed preferences. Actual actions may be taken into account in addition to expressed preferences. Generation of matches may take into account geographical and/or temporal proximity and/or likelihood of receiving a response, in addition to other attributes of an entity. Matching algorithms may be updated based on entity input. Potential matches may be presented to third party entities for evaluation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: Plentyoffish Media ULC
    Inventors: Markus Frind, Steve Oldridge
  • Patent number: 9537867
    Abstract: A trust propagation system is disclosed that propagates trust data based on established trust relationships. The trust system may automatically propagate trust data between parties A and C based on trust relationships with a common party B. Trust data may include authentication data such as biometric data, encryption data, passwords, etc. that may be used to conduct exclusive communications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P.
    Inventors: Pradeep K. Bansal, Lee Begeja, Carroll W. Creswell, Jeffrey Farah, Benjamin J. Stern, Jay Wilpon
  • Patent number: 9521106
    Abstract: A method, a system and a device for obtaining potential friends information are disclosed in the present invention. The method includes: a server receives a request sent by a requesting client for obtaining potential friends information from a recommending user which is appointed by a requesting user; the server forwards the request for obtaining the potential friends information to a recommending client that pertains to the recommending user; the server receives the potential friends information sent by the recommending client, and determines whether users corresponding to the potential friends information and the recommending user are friends, and if yes, sends the potential friends information to the requesting client.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited
    Inventor: Minge Li
  • Patent number: 9516122
    Abstract: A media player user interface on behalf of a user associated with a user account is generated that has a social network module that includes music updates associated with other users to which the user is linked. Media player actions associated with the user occurring in the media player user interface are also captured, updates are generated and provided to social network modules in a media player user interface associated with other linked users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Brandon Scott Durham, Craig Pape, Scott K. Meaker, Erin O. Anderson, Paul William Roberts, Jim L. Dantzler
  • Patent number: 9509840
    Abstract: A method for marking a phone number and a system for marking a phone number are provided. Said method comprises: obtaining a phone number of an incoming call or a dialed call to/from a mobile terminal; performing matching process on the obtained phone number in at least one of a local database and a cloud database; based on whether or not said phone number is successfully matched in the local database or the cloud database and whether said phone number is a questioned number, displaying the user with different marking pages, to prompt the user to mark said phone number or confirm the marking information of said phone number; obtaining the marking information marked by the user to said phone number according to the marking page, and performing marking verification process on the marking information; and according to the result of the marking verification process, updating said cloud database and said local database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: SHANGHAI CHULE (COOTEK) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD.
    Inventors: Kan Zhang, Meng Zhang, Teng Ren, Jian Wang
  • Patent number: 9509857
    Abstract: Mobile device application usage history is collected across a plurality of mobile device applications. A mobile device application usage trigger event is received. For each of a plurality of candidate push notifications, a quality score adjustment is determined as a function of the collected mobile device application usage history and the trigger event. An opportunity to push a notification to the first mobile device is auctioned based on the adjusted quality scores. The notification of the auction winner is pushed to the first mobile device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: GOOGLE INC.
    Inventors: Timothy Wong O'Connor, Luis German Benavides Oyaga
  • Patent number: 9501721
    Abstract: There is provided an information processing apparatus, including an event information analyzing section which analyzes event information related to an event in which a person participates, a person image group analyzing section which analyzes, for the person participating in the event, a person image group including one or a plurality of person images including the person, and a profile estimation section which estimates a profile of the person participating in the event based on a result obtained by analyzing the person image group and a result obtained by analyzing the event information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takayuki Ochi, Kazuhiro Nakagomi, Yorimitsu Naito, Takamasa Sato
  • Patent number: 9497234
    Abstract: A method includes: determining a first user interaction on a social network system; identifying a social network object in the social network system associated with the first user interaction by traversing a social graph of the social network system; identifying a user account based on the first user interaction; generating an implicit social graph connection between the user account and the social network object; and selecting a content entry for displaying to a user device signed-in under the user account or a friend account based on the implicit social graph connection, the friend account socially connected to the user account via the social graph of the social network system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Abheek Anand, Julia Lee
  • Patent number: 9489699
    Abstract: The disclosure includes use of a feature-aware propagation model to identify one or more features of a product and one or more person(s), or members of a social network, to target, or user, for marketing the product having the identified features. The one or more person(s) identified using the model may be the person(s), or member(s), of a social network determined to have a maximum capability, relative to other members of the social network, for influencing the members of the social network in adopting, e.g., purchasing, a product having the identified features. In addition, parameters of the model may be determined using information about the social network, user preferences, and the products and features of the products.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: Excalibur IP, LLC
    Inventors: Nicola Barbieri, Francesco Bonchi
  • Patent number: 9491258
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for distributing images corresponding to communication endpoints. A system includes one or more servers configured to determine whether image privacy settings corresponding to images of communication endpoints permit the images to be transmitted to others of the communication endpoints for display with contacts lists of the others of the communication endpoints. A method includes transmitting the data corresponding to the images to the others of the communication endpoints as permitted by the image privacy settings. A communication endpoint is configured to present a contacts list displaying the images corresponding to communication endpoints listed in the contacts list to a user, if permitted by the corresponding image privacy settings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: Sorenson Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Brett Thelin, Lane Walters, Tara Lalor, James Blackham, Kevin Selman, Cameron Dadgari
  • Patent number: 9485313
    Abstract: Computer-based systems, methods, and articles of manufacture are disclosed. In a social network embodiment, information regarding a first user is obtained and formed into a first dataset. Conceptual spaces are selected for the first user, and the first user's location is determined in the spaces. Distances between the first user and other users and their datasets are computed in the selected conceptual spaces. Actions are taken based on the distances, such as including or excluding the other users from a friends list of the first user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Inventor: Alexander I. Poltorak
  • Patent number: 9471943
    Abstract: A social networking system receives a sponsored story request identifying a story describing an action performed by a social networking system user and generates a sponsored story accordingly. The sponsored story request may also include a bid amount and other information for generating a sponsored story from the sponsored story request. When an action is included in a sponsored story presented to a social networking system user, the social networking system notifies the user associated with the action and provides one or more settings regulating inclusion of actions associated with the user in sponsored story requests. For example, settings allow a user to prevent generation of sponsored stories including a specified type of action, a specific action, or multiple actions associated with the user. Hence, the settings allow a user to limit or prevent generation of sponsored stories describing actions associated with the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Gianluca Iannaccone, Han Qin
  • Patent number: 9472166
    Abstract: A digital picture frame including a camera integrated with the frame, and a network connection module allowing the frame for use as a Mobile Positional Social Media (MPSM) device for displaying social media pictures from a user's social media account or her or his community members' social media accounts. The integrated camera is used to automatically determine an identity of a frame viewer, and a viewer profile automatically determined from the identity of the viewer. The displayed photos are automatically shown and/or changed according to the detected viewers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: PUSHD, INC.
    Inventors: Ophir Frieder, Abdur Chowdhury, Eric Jensen, Ben Cherry, Richard Sanford, Jonathan Wirt, Scott Milstein, Alek Kolcz, Daniel Waldron
  • Patent number: 9473584
    Abstract: For an online community advocacy management platform, the techniques herein intelligently provide mechanisms and user interfaces for filtering (triaging) the view of comments and content based on advocate levels, trend rates, consumer participation, hot topics, recent activity, etc. by gauging the likelihood of user-generated actions to cause future influence based on their algorithmic similarities to historically influential actions, and weighted based on an aggregate, compounding history of individuals throughout time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Inventor: Daniel Sullivan
  • Patent number: 9471619
    Abstract: Disclosed are systems, apparatus, methods and computer program products for controlling the state of a post in a social networking system implemented using a database system. In some implementations, a post is received from a user device. The post is configured to be shared in a feed of the social networking system and configured to be stored or identified using at least one data object in a database. The post has a state, which is either editable to permit editing of the post or non-editable to prevent editing of the post. At least a first criterion is applied to content in relation to the post. When at least the first criterion is satisfied, the state of the post can be controlled to be editable or non-editable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: salesforce.com, inc.
    Inventor: Joseph M. Olsen
  • Patent number: 9467408
    Abstract: In order to obtain comments about video content (such as a posted video), a subset of users of a social network may be dynamically identified. This subset of users may be relevant to or may have expertise about the video content. For example, the subset of users may be identified based on their user or member profiles and characteristics of the video content. Then, requests may be iteratively provided to the subset of the users to encourage them to comment on the video content, as well as previous comments from the subset of the users. After editing the comments (which may include reordering the comments that are received at different times), the edited comments may be subsequently presented to the users of the social network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation
    Inventors: Jonathan L. Sherman-Presser, Marvin H. Li, Yoonjeong Yang
  • Patent number: 9467414
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a request to create a note is received from a first user. The note includes a message and a first location of the first user. A note record is created of the message, the first location, and a first user-interest associated with the first user. A number of second users are identified based on second locations of the second users, and second user-interests associated with the second users. The message is sent to the identified second users. In response to sending the message, the current location of the first user is determined compared to the first location. If the first user is within a predetermined distance from the first location, a notification is sent to the first user indicating that the message has been sent to the second users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Garrod Bosworth, David Harry Garcia, Kenneth M. Lau
  • Patent number: 9466064
    Abstract: A system and method updates a consumer's preference information not only as a result of explicit preference information received from the consumer, but also resulting from actions of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: Zoosk, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander F Mehr, Shayan G Zadeh
  • Patent number: 9462045
    Abstract: In an aspect, a client device detects a set of proximate client devices. The client device classifies, for each respective proximate client device in the set of proximate client devices, a relationship relative to an operator of the client device based on a local evaluation of one or more interactions between the client device and at least one proximate client device from the set of proximate client devices in response to the detecting. The client device determines whether to automatically trigger a communicative action with one or more proximate client devices from the set of proximate client devices based on the classifying.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Sarah Glickfield, Isaac David Guedalia, Peter Charles Whale, Hugh O'Donoghue
  • Patent number: 9454750
    Abstract: Techniques for estimating, in real time, the likelihood that any particular member of a social network service is a third degree connection of another member are described. Consistent with some embodiments, various member profile attributes of a member are used as a sort of proxy for determining the likelihood or probability that the member is a third degree connection of another member. For example, in some instances, the number of first-degree connections a member has is used to derive a probability score indicating the likelihood that the member is a third-degree connection of another member, such as a person performing a people-search. Once derived, the probability score for each member may be used in various applications, such as a people-search engine, to boost or increase a ranking score assigned to each search result and used to order the search results when presented to the user who has performed the search.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2016
    Assignee: LINKEDIN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shakti Dhirendraji Sinha, Xufei Wang, Jiong Wang
  • Patent number: 9449311
    Abstract: In various embodiments, a system and method for facilitating transactions using a badge are provided. In example embodiments, codes for a badge to be displayed on a web page of a web site are generated. The codes for the badge are embedded in the web page prior to an occurrence of an event external to the web site. In response to an indication of the event, the embedded codes are activated to display the badge on the web page.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: eBay Inc.
    Inventors: Hugo Olliphant, Sandra Lynn Godsey
  • Patent number: 9449221
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media for identifying a personality of a human subject based on correlations between personality traits obtained from the subject's physical features, which may include a movement pattern of the subject, such as the subject's gait. Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure are further capable of providing a recommendation to the subject for a product or service based on the identified personality of the subject.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: WIPRO LIMITED
    Inventor: Abhishek Gunjan
  • Patent number: 9450898
    Abstract: A method implemented in a communication device, the method comprising receiving a context preference for a contact, storing the context preference, connecting to a communication session via the communication device, transmitting, for display at a second communication device, context information based on the context preference and presence information indicating that the communication device has connected to the communication session, and receiving from the second communication device a request from the contact to connect to the communication session.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Francis Kurupacheril, Frederick P. Block
  • Patent number: 9448981
    Abstract: Methods and systems for enabling images on a web page are provided. In example embodiments, a selection of an event external to a website of a publisher that will trigger display of an image that corresponds to the event is received. Information regarding a format for the image is received. Prior to the event occurring, code for the image to be displayed on a web page of the web site associated with the publisher is generated. The code is generated using the information regarding the format for the image. An indication of an occurrence of the event external to the web site is received. The code is triggered to display the image on the web page in response to the receiving the indication of the occurrence of the event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: eBay Inc.
    Inventor: Hugo Olliphant
  • Patent number: 9449282
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods and apparatus for automatically determining the relevance of matches between entities. A set of one or more indicators of relevance for each of a plurality of matches may be detected, where each of the plurality of matches exists between a first entity and a different one of a plurality of entities. Each set of one or more indicators of relevance indicates a degree of two-way interest for a corresponding one of the plurality of matches, the degree of two-way interest indicating both a degree of interest of the first entity in the corresponding one of the plurality of entities and a degree of interest of the corresponding one of the plurality of entities in the first entity. A probability of relevance of each of the plurality of matches may be determined based at least in part upon a corresponding set of one or more indicators of relevance. Each of the plurality of matches may be ranked based at least in part on the corresponding probability of relevance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: MATCH.COM, L.L.C.
    Inventors: Fernando Diaz, Donald Metzler, Sihem Amer-Yahia
  • Patent number: 9449096
    Abstract: A computer determines social media influencers in a specific topic. The computer receives a dataset of information on a website, the information including a list of users of the website and a list of content that each user posts, wherein each user is associated with one or more other users. The computer identifies a plurality of variables associated with the dataset, wherein the plurality of variables represent the information of the dataset on the website. The computer executes a topic specific search based on the plurality of variables, the topic search providing at least another list of users representing influencers in a specific topic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Andrey L. Balmin, Bin Bi, John Sismanis, Yuanyuan Tian
  • Patent number: 9444778
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for propagating a message in a social network are disclosed. A method for propagating a message in a social network according to an embodiment of the invention can include: calculating a degree of connectivity of each user; calculating a propagation capability of each user by using the calculated degree of connectivity and a probability of distribution; choosing target users for propagating a message by using the propagation capability of each user; and propagating the message to nodes of the chosen target users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Foundation of Soongsil University-Industry Cooperation
    Inventors: Myungsik Yoo, Duy-Linh Nguyen, Wenji Quan
  • Patent number: 9436965
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention comprise systems, computer program products, and methods for a financial and social management system that provides improved tracking and management related to how, where, when, and with whom a user enters into activities. The financial and social management system captures activity information and images from various sources of information, including but not limited to social networking accounts, e-receipts, location determination devices, and the like, and associates the activity information and images with the activities. The financial and social management system may display the activities, activity information, and images in an interactive map using markers. The markers in the interactive may be displayed as a function of the time of the activity, include images, or transaction data related to the activity. Positioning information related to the location of the user at the time of the activities may also be overlaid on the interactive map.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Elizabeth S. Votaw, Laura Corinne Bondesen, Matthew A. Calman, Katherine Dintenfass, Candice Michelle Jones, Charles Karim Aweida, Parker Holt Bossier, Rebecca A. Chen, Nandhita Kumar, Min Zhao
  • Patent number: 9436687
    Abstract: A social networking system obtains specific structured data about a user via a composer interface having textual content with incomplete portions and input fields corresponding to the incomplete potions. The input fields map to data fields in the user's profile and are selected based on the social networking system's need for the information associated with the data fields.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Taaffe Lindsay, Samuel Lessin, Justin Alexander Shaffer, Nicholas Felton, Ryan Case
  • Patent number: 9424369
    Abstract: Storing and retrieving tags can include determining a quantitative weighting factor for each tag, determining a reputation weighting factor for each tag, determining a context weighing factor for each tag, determining an expiry weighting factor for each tag, and determining, using a server, an overall weighting factor for each tag by calculating an average of the weighting factors. The relevance of each tag can be visually reflected in the tag cloud based on the overall weighting factor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2016
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hendrik Haddorp, Timo Kussmaul, Stephan Laertz, Andreas Nauerz
  • Patent number: 9424368
    Abstract: Storing and retrieving tags can include determining a quantitative weighting factor for each tag, determining a reputation weighting factor for each tag, determining a context weighing factor for each tag, determining an expiry weighting factor for each tag, and determining, using a server, an overall weighting factor for each tag by calculating an average of the weighting factors. The relevance of each tag can be visually reflected in a tag cloud based on the overall weighting factor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2016
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hendrik Haddorp, Timo Kussmaul, Stephan Laertz, Andreas Nauerz
  • Patent number: 9420339
    Abstract: A method of determining demand for multimedia content in a multimedia provider network includes receiving a content demand statistics (CDS) request from a client application where the request identifies a subscriber set. Responsive to the CDS request, selected CDS data is retrieved from a CDS subsystem. The CDS data is indicative of demand for multimedia content among subscribers in the subscriber set. The retrieved CDS data is delivered to the client application. The selected data may be selected from past data, present data, and future data. The CDS request indicates a set of buddy subscribers and the messaging server retrieves CDS data associated with the buddy subscribers. A security subsystem may be accessed and to determine, prior to retrieving CDS data for a particular buddy subscriber, whether the particular buddy subscriber has authorized the requesting subscriber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P.
    Inventors: Bernard Ku, Arshad Khan, Niral Sheth