Patent Application
20170061005
The present disclosure relates to automatically retrieving, providing and updating profile information for a user. In particular, the present disclosure relates to automatically retrieving information in the background from various databases, providing it on mobile devices and updating the profile of a user with the information.
In the last decade or so, social networks have become increasingly popular. People can share important moments of their life with their friends even though they live far away from each other. Similarly, people can follow businesses that they are interested in on a social network so that they receive more real-time information about the businesses they like. Therefore, it is important for users to make sure that they connected with their friends or followed the businesses.
When communicating using mobile devices, people tend to place or receive phone calls, send and receive text messages or send and receive email messages to communicate with their friends. In this case, they may or may not have be connected with the same people in the social networks they use. Furthermore, under other circumstances, for example, when a user receives a call from a strange number which is not in the user's contact information, it may confuse the user. This is particularly true when a second user associated with this number called the first user several times during the past week for the purpose of discussing some particular event and the user does not save the phone number as a contact.
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for automatically retrieving, providing and updating information for a user. According to one innovative aspect of the subject matter in this disclosure, a system having one or more processors and a memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the system to: receive an attribute associated with an action of a first user on a mobile computing device; retrieve profile information associated with the attribute from a first global database; determine whether to update a profile with the profile information; and responsive to a determination to update the profile, provide the profile information for storage in the profile.
In general, another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in methods that include receiving, using one or more computing devices, an attribute associated with an action of a first user on a mobile computing device; retrieving, using the one or more computing devices, profile information associated with the attribute from a first global database; determining, using one or more computing devices, whether to update a profile with the profile information; and responsive to determining to update the profile, providing, using one or more computing devices, the profile information for storage in the profile.
Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure may be implemented in methods that include detecting an action performed by a first user on a mobile computing device; determining, using the mobile computing device, an attribute associated with the detected action; retrieving, using the mobile computing device, profile information associated with the attribute from an external database; and providing, using the mobile computing device, the profile information for storage in a profile of the first user.
Other implementations of one or more of these aspects include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform the actions of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices.
These and other implementations may each optionally include one or more of the following operations. For instance, the operations wherein the action is sending or receiving a telephone call using the mobile computing device; wherein the action is creating or modifying contact information stored on the mobile computing device; wherein the profile of the first user is part of contact information stored on the mobile computing device; wherein the profile of the first user is on a social network service; and determining whether the first user has dismissed a prior notification to update the profile with the profile information. For instance, the operations further include: providing the profile information for storage includes updating a social graph of the first user with a second user determined from the profile information; determining whether to present the profile information on the mobile computing device, and responsive to a determination to present the profile information on mobile computing device, generating a notification including the profile information and providing the notification for display on the mobile computing device. For instance, the operations also may include receiving a calling signal; determining a parameter from the calling signal; determining whether the parameter from the calling signal satisfies a predefined threshold; and responsive to a determination that the parameter satisfies the predefined threshold, updating the profile with the profile information. For instance, the operations also may include receiving a social signal; determining a parameter from the social signal; determining whether the parameter from the social signal satisfies a predefined threshold; and responsive to a determination that the parameter satisfies the predefined threshold, updating the profile with the profile information. For instance, the operations further include: identifying one or more global databases to which the first user has access; selecting a first database from the one or more global databases based on frequency of use of the one or more global databases; sending a query to the first database; and receiving and using a query result from the first database as the profile information. For instance, the operations further include: determining whether to generate a notification to the first user; responsive to a determination to generate the notification, generating the notification including the profile information; providing the notification for presentation to the first user; receiving a confirmation to update the profile of the first user; and responsive to receiving the confirmation, storing the profile information in the profile of the first user. For instance, the operations further include: identifying a plurality of social networks on which the first user has a profile; selecting a social network from the plurality of social networks based on a predetermined rule; and updating the profile of the first user in the selected social network with the profile information.
These implementations are particularly advantageous in a number of respects. For instance, the automatically retrieving, providing and updating information for a user eliminates the need for manual input of redundant data by the user. Moreover, the technology allows users to increase the number of others with which they have relationships on social networks. The present technology is also advantageous because the user may be notified prior to addition of any additional information to their contact information or profile information. Further, the presentation of notifications about changes to the user's contact information (e.g., profiles and contacts) can be adapted to the preferences and desires of the user.
It should be understood, however, that the above features and advantages are not all-inclusive and many additional features and advantages are contemplated and fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, it should be understood that the language used in the present disclosure has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and not to limit the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein.
The specification is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals are used to refer to similar elements.
The specification discloses a system and method for retrieving, providing and updating information for a user. In particular, the present disclosure relates to automatically retrieving information in the background from various databases, providing it on mobile devices and updating the profile of a user with the profile information. The profile updating application detects an action or activity by a first user on a mobile computing device or client device. More specifically, the profile updating application detects an activity related to contact information on the client device. For example, the activity can be a modification of a contact record in the contact information of the client device (e.g., mobile computing device). In another example, the profile updating application detects an activity related use of the mobile computing device or client device as a phone. For example, the activity can be making or receiving a phone call using the client device. The profile updating application retrieves one or more attributes associated with the detected activity. For example, when there is a call on the client device, the attribute can be the phone number; when there is a modification of a contact in the contact information, the attribute can be one or more of the fields in the contact record for the contact, e.g., a phone number, a name, the email address of the user, the address of the user, the birthday of the user, a uniform resource locator (URL) of the user's page, etc. In some instances, the profile updating application retrieves the profile information associated with the one or more attributes from a global database or an external database. For example, the profile updating application determines an identifier (ID) associated with these attributes and retrieves the profile information corresponding to the ID. The identifier could be a social network ID, an email identifier, a business name, a user's name or the like. Some of these operations may be performed by the profile updating application alone while for others the profile updating application cooperates with the profile retrieval application to perform them as will be described below.
In some instances, the profile updating application provides a notification for presentation to the first user of the client device. In general in the description that follows unless specifically stated otherwise, the first user will be used to refer to the user of a mobile computing device or client device (e.g., user 1225a of client device 1215a, see
In some instances, the method 100 is triggered or initiated when the activity detecting engine 1320 detects 102 an action or activity by a first user on the client device 1215 of the first user. For example, the action or activity can be a phone call received or placed using the client device 1215 or a creation or modification of a contact record in the contact information of the client device 1215. In some instances, the detection is performed by the client device 1215. In some instances, the client device 1215 notifies other devices that an action or activity has been detected.
The method 100 continues with the attribute extraction engine 1322 determining or retrieving 104 one or more attributes associated with the detected activity. For example, when the detected activity is a call on the client device 1215, the attribute can be the phone number. The phone number may be determined by accessing the dialer functionality of the client device 1215 or using caller identification (ID) that is transmitted as part of the call. In another example, when the detected activity is a modification of a contact record in the contact information, the attribute(s) can be one or more of any information stored in the contact information, e.g., a phone number, a name, the email address of the user, the address of the user, the birthday of the user, a URL of the user's page, etc.
The method 100 continues having the profile retrieving engine 1324 retrieve 106 the profile information associated with the one or more attributes from a global database. For example, the one or more attributes may be used to retrieve the profile information from any database external to the client device 1215, e.g., those databases of a social network server 1202, a profile server 1230, a web search server 1232, an email server 1236 or a third party server 1234. One example of a third party server 1234 is a “white pages” server that can receive a phone number and response provides a user name. In some instances, the profile updating application 1206 cooperates with the profile retrieval application 1207 of the social network server 1202 to look up a social network ID associated with the one or more attributes and retrieves the profile information associated with the social network ID. That profile information is sent from the social network server 1202 to the client device 1215. Similarly, other query or search operations may be performed using the one or more attributes on the profile server 1230, web search server 1232, email server 1236 or third party server 1234 to similarly generate profile information.
The method 100 continues by generating and providing 108 a notification to the first user. The method 100 generates 108 a notification using the profile information retrieved in block 106. The method 100 processes the profile information retrieved in block 106 to determine what information to include in the notification. For example, new or non-redundant information (e.g., information not already stored on the client device 1215) may be determined and selected for inclusion in the notification. Moreover, portions of the profile information may be prioritized over other information. By way of example, name, phone number and email address may be prioritized over other information like photos, dates, comments, etc.
In some instances, the notification engine 1326 determines whether to provide 108 the notification to the first user of the client device 1215. The notification engine 1326 may run different algorithms or tests on social signals, calling signals, the profile information itself or combinations thereof to determine whether to provide 108 the notification to the first user. For example, the calling signals can be used and the notification may include the various types of communication history (e.g., the frequency, recency and number of emails and/or phone calls) between the first user and a second user associated with the detected activity. In another example, social signals can be used and the notification may include the profile information or the social network ID associated with the attributes. The social signals may include posting, commenting, resharing, endorsing, recommending, presence or not in a user's social graph, degree of separation between users in a social graph, social actions on content from another user, etc. In yet another example, other signals (e.g., relevance rank, location, etc.), may be used to determine a portion of the profile information (information about one business that is geographically closer to the first user than another business) to include in the notification. In still another example, the notification may include a request to the first user regarding whether the first user wants to take a particular action (e.g., add the second user as a connection in a social network) related to the profile information.
Next, the method 100 with the information updating engine 1328 receives 110 input from the first user responsive to the notification. The input may indicate that the first user wants to perform the action requested in the notification. For example, input may indicate that the first user wants to connect with the second user on social network. In another example, the input may indicate that the first user wants to store the profile information of the second user as a contact in the contact information on the client device 1215.
The method 100 continues by updating 112 the contact information that the first user keeps about the second user or other users. In some instances, the method 100 stores the profile information in a profile of a second user in the contact information of the first user. For example, the profile on the client device 1215 may be updated with the profile information from the external database. In another example, the information of the first user on the profile server 1230, web search server 1232, email server 1236 or third party server 1234 may be updated with the profile information. In a particular example, the information updating engine 1328 updates 112 the first user's social graph on a social network with the profile information based on the input from the user. For example, responsive to the first user's input indicating that the first user wants to connect with the second user, the social network adds the second user as a connection of the first user on a social network.
In some instances, the information updating engine 1328 updates the contact information of the first user in multiple external databases with the retrieved profile information associated with the second user (e.g., a name, a phone number, a location, etc.). For example, the information updating engine 1328 may update a contact list of the first user in an external database directed to business networking with a name and a phone number of a service provider in response to receiving a call from the service provider. Or, based on a call from the first user to a journal editor who is working on publication of an article of the first user, the information updating engine 1328 may update a publication group of the first user in an external database centered on academics with available hours of the journal editor. Or the information updating engine 1328 may update a match list of the first user in an external database directed to dating with a name, a photo, a meeting time, a meeting location of a contact in response to saving the contact that matches user interests of the first user. Or the information updating engine 1328 may add a new contact name in a social graph of the first user in different social networks.
In some instances, in addition to updating the contact information of the first user with the retrieved information associated with the second user, the information updating engine 1328 also connects the first user to the second user. The second user may be associated with a call with the first user and determined by the phone number of the call. The second user may also be a new contact saved in the external database. In some instances, the information updating engine 1328 may suggest a connection between the first user and the second user and actually establish the connection between the first user and the second user in response to receiving an acceptance of the suggested connection from at least one of the first and second users. In other instances, the information updating engine 1328 may notify the first user to connect with the second user.
Referring now to
The notification engine 1326 generates and provides 208 a notification to the first user of the client device 1215. The notification can include the various types of communication history, e.g., email exchange and phone calls etc., between the first user and a second user associated with the detected call. In another example, the notification can include the retrieved profile information or the social network ID associated with the attributes. In yet another example, the notification can include query to the first user regarding whether the user wants to add the second user as a connection. The information updating engine 1328 receives 210 an input responsive to presentation of the notification from the first user. For example, the input may indicate that the first user wants to connect with the second user on a social network. In another example, the input may indicate that the user wants to store the profile information of the second user as a contact in the contact information on the client device 1215. The information updating engine 1328 adds 212 the profile information to the first user's social graph on a social network based on the input from the user. For example, responsive to the user's input indicating that the first user wants to connect with the second user, the social network adds the other users as a connection on a social network. In some embodiments, rather than updating 212 the first user's social graph, the information updating engine 1328 updates 212 the contact information of the first user on the client device 1215 by adding the profile information to the contact information. This method 200 is particularly advantageous because it uses the activity (a phone call) as a way to expand the first user's social graph by automatically adding connections based on the activity. Furthermore, while block 208 has been presented as part of the method 200 above, it should be recognized in some instances, the method 200 automatically updates the profile of the first user in the social network without providing a notification or receiving input from the user. Still furthermore, the method 200 may update the contact information or the social graph of the first user in multiple social networks and external databases. For example, the information updating engine 1328 may update contact information of the first user in a first external database centered on career connections with a new employer of a second user, and add profile information of a new third user to the social graph of the first user in a second social network.
Referring now to
The notification engine 1326 generates and provides 308 a notification to the first user of the client device 1215. The notification can include the various types of communication history (e.g., email exchange and phone calls etc.,) between the first user and a second user associated with the detected activity. In another example, the notification can include the retrieved profile information or the social network ID associated with the attributes from block 306. In yet another example, the notification can include a confirmation request to the first user regarding whether the first user wants to add the second user as a connection. The information updating engine 1328 receives 310 an input responsive to the notification from the first user. For example, the input may indicate that the first user wants to connect with the second user on social network. In another example, the input may indicate that the user wants to store the profile information of the second user as a contact in the contact information on the client device 1215. For example, the information may include an email address or mobile phone number of the second user, and that information may be presented and stored in the client device. In another example, the information may include a business name and address, and that information may be stored in a contact record of a contact information of the client device 1215. In still another example, the information may include a username for the second user on a social network. The information updating engine 1328 adds 312 the profile information to the first user's social graph on a social network based on the input from the user. For example, responsive to the user's input indicating that the first user wants to connect with the second user, the social network adds the second user as a connection on a social network. It should be understood that the modifications to the social graph may be a socially visible action or a private action. More specifically, in the socially visible case, if the first user updates information about a second user, for example his email address, the social network service signals that the second user is an existing user of the social network service, and the first user indicates that the second user should be added to a group of the first user on the social networks service; the method 300 updates the social graph of the first user to reflect that relationship. In the private action case, the first user may simply update a profile on the social network that the first user has about the second user. For example, instead of signaling that the system should add the second user to one of my groups on the social network service, the first user could instead signal that he only would like the profile that first user has about the second user to be updated, e.g., by adding a picture of the second user provided from the social network service, but don't actually establish a connection with the second user on the social network. In some instances, the method 300 also updates the contact information or the social graph of the first user in multiple social networks and external databases.
The method 400 begins with the request receiving engine 1422 of the profile retrieval application 1207 receiving 402 a request from the first user's client device 1215 for profile information based on one or more attributes. For example, the request receiving engine 1422 receives a request including a phone number as the attribute. In another example, the request receiving engine 1422 receives other calling information (start time of call, end time of call, number of calls, call from, call to, call duration, etc.) as attributes, In another example, the request receiving engine 1422 receives a request including updated or modified contact information as the attribute(s). In yet another example, the request receiving engine 1422 receives unique identifying information (e.g., phone number, name, email address, etc.) as an attribute. The unique identifying information may be derived by the profile updating application 1206 from the phone call or the modification to a contact record of a local contact information of the client device 1215.
The method 400 continues by using the received attribute(s) to search one or more data sources that are external to the client device 1215. As noted above, the data sources may include one or more databases of the social network server 1202, the profile server 1230, the web search server 1232, the email server 1236 or any third party server 1234. In some instances, the profile information is retrieved directly from these data sources using the received attribute(s). For example, the received attribute(s) may be used for a query of the profile server 1230. In another example, the received attribute(s) may be used as search terms for a search on the web search server 1232. Still more particularly, this could be a search of local business having the received attribute(s). In another example, the received attribute(s) may be used for a search of the email server for an email address of another user. In another example, the received attribute(s) may be used to search the profiles of users of the any third party server 1234. Finally, the received attribute(s) may be used for a query of the social network server 1202 and other servers for the social network ID associated with the one or more attributes. For example, the social network server 1202 may access a name resolution service and provide the received attribute(s) to determine a social network ID associated with the one or more attributes. A name resolution service is a services that retrieves of numeric values or attributes given the associated names or portions of a name. In some instances, the API 1420, web search engine 1424, email exchange data retrieving engine 1426, and name resolution service engine 1432 work together to look up the social network ID associated with the one or more attributes. It should be understood that the method 400 may perform one or different combinations of the above examples and combine the results from the different data sources as the profile information. Further in such cases, where block 404 produces the profile information, the need to perform block 406 is optional.
In some instances, retrieving the profile information is a two-step process where in block 404 unique identifying information (e.g., the social network ID) is determined, and the profile information is retrieved in block 406 using the unique identifying information. For example, the profile information retrieving engine 1428 retrieves 406 profile information associated with the social network ID. For example, the profile retrieval application 1207 may interact with the API 1420 to the social network application 1204 to look up the social network ID. In another example, the profile retrieval application 1207 may interact with the web search engine 1424 to search web pages to look up the social network ID associated with the one or more attributes. In yet another example, the profile retrieval application 1207 may interact with the email exchange data retrieving engine 1426 search the email server 1236 to look up the social network ID. To be noted, the profile retrieval application 1207 may interact with other sources or the combination of the above mentioned sources and other sources to find the social network ID. Under some circumstances, the profile retrieval application 1207 may find more than one social network IDs that are associated with the same attribute or the same group of attributes. The name resolution service engine 1432 further identifies the social network ID from other related social network IDs. It should be understood that the multiple sources may be searched for different portions of profile information related to the attribute(s). Those portions may be combined into the profile information for presentation to the user. For example, the web search server 1232 may be searched and provide the name and address of the business. The social network server 1022 may be searched and provide a social network ID for the business. The email server 1236 may be searched and provide an email address for the president of the business. This data may then be combined and presented to the user as the profile information. Moreover, this same profile information may be stored in one more of the web search server 1232, the client device 1215, the social network server 1022 and the email server 1236 as part of a profile for the first user.
In some instances, the method 400 performs a form of spam filtering or data filtering so that the user is not presented with too many notifications about profile information. In some instances these steps 408 and 410 are optional, thus steps 408 and 410 are depicted in
More specifically, the method 400 may determine whether to generate the notification based on various signals including social signals, calling signals, or other interaction signals. In some instances, the method 400 determines a score using one or a combination of the social signals, calling signals and other interaction signals. In some instances, the spam filter 1430 of the profile retrieval application 1207 calculates 408 a score for the social network ID based on the interaction history between the first user and the user corresponding to the social network ID. The score may be calculated based on frequency and other factors. For example, when the contact information related activity is a phone call, and this is the third phone call between the first user (i.e., the user of the client device 1215) and the second user associated with this phone number during a predetermined amount of time (e.g., the past week), then the score for this social network ID is higher than if there were only two or fewer calls between the two users. The spam filter 1430 determines 410 whether the score calculated in block 408 is above a predetermined threshold. If the score is not above the predetermined threshold, then the method 400 continues without performing block 412. The purpose of blocks 408 and 410 is to ensure that every notification generated and presented to the first user is interesting to the first user to a certain degree. This also prevents the first user from having a bad experience in which she consistently receives notifications that are not that useful to her. Other factors may also be taken into consideration in calculating the score, for example, email exchange frequency, whether the second user is already a contact in the contact information, etc. In some instances, the rules may be applied to determine whether to generate a notification. For example, the rules may include: 1) the user is in my contacts list, and this is at least the first time the user has been called; 2) the user is in another contacts list, and this is at least the third time the user has been called; 3) the user is in one of my defined groups on the social network, and this is at least the third time the user has been called; 4) the phone numbers in my call history and this is at least the 5th time the user has been called. It should be understood, that these rules could also be translated into a calculated score corresponding threshold. If the determined score is above the predetermined threshold, the method 400 continues to block 412. The profile retrieval application 1207 generates 412 a notification including the profile information and sends the notification to the first user of the client device 1215. The example notifications are describe in more detail below with reference to
The activity detecting engine 1320 detects 502 an activity performed by a first user on the client device 1215 (e.g., a mobile computing device). For example, the activity can be a call on the client device 1215 or a modification of a contact record in the contact information of the client device 1215. The attribute extraction engine 1322 retrieves 504 one or more attributes associated with the detected activity. For example, when there is a call on the client device 1215, the attribute can be the phone number; or when there is a modification of a contact record in the contact information, the attributes may be the data and fields of the modified contact record. In some instances, the profile updating application 1206 may store the profile information retrieved (e.g., photo, email address, etc.) to a local contact record in the contact information of the client device 1215.
In some instances, the method 500 determines whether some of the operations normally performed by the updating application 1206 have already been performed by other components or applications of the client device 1215. For example, the client device 1215 may include other applications that retrieve profile information or update profiles external or remote to the client device 1215. In such cases, the method 500 is optimized so that the updating application the 1206 does not repeat actions that it would normally perform but have already been performed. The profile updating application 1206 determines 506 whether the client device 1215 has an installed application that automatically retrieves the profile information. For example, some pre-installed dialers of smart phone automatically retrieve the profile information from the cloud. In this case, it would be redundant to look up and retrieve the profile information for the user. If the result of the determination in block 506 is that the client device 1215 does have an application installed that automatically retrieves the profile information, then the method 500 continues to block 518 as will be described below. On the other hand, if the result of the determination in block 506 is that the client device 1215 does not have an application installed that automatically retrieves the profile information, then the method 500 proceeds to step 508, where the profile updating application 1206 determines whether a social network is installed on the client device 1215 and automatically updates the social network with the profile information associated with the one or more attributes. Blocks 506 and 508 are optional and therefore depicted in
If block 508 determines that the social network application of the first user is set to automatically update, then profile updating application 1206 does not perform blocks 510 to 518, and the method 500 continues after block 518. On the other hand, if block 508 determines that the social network application does not exist or is not set to automatically update, the profile updating application 1206 sends 510 a request for profile information based on the one or more attributes and receives 512 a notification including the profile information. The notification engine 1326 provides 514 a notification to the first user of the client device 1215. The notification can include the various information and take various formats as has been described above. The information updating engine 1328 receives 516 an input responsive to the notification from the first user. Responsive to the input being a confirmation that an updating action should be taken, the information updating engine 1328 updates 518 the first user's social graph on a social network with the profile information based on the input from the user. For example, responsive to the user's input indicating that the first user wants to connect with the second user, the social network adds the other users as a connection on a social network. In some instances, the information updating engine 1328 also updates the contact information or the social graph of the first user in multiple social networks and external databases.
The activity detecting engine 1320 detects 602 an activity related to a contact information on the client device 1215. The attribute extraction engine 1322 retrieves 604 one or more attributes associated with the detected activity. Responsive to retrieving the one or more attributes, the profile retrieving engine 1324 retrieves 606 the profile information associated with the one or more attributes from a global database. For example, the profile updating application 1206 looks up for the social network ID associated with these attributes and retrieves the profile information of the social network ID.
In some instance, the profile updating application 1206 determines 608 whether to provide a notification based on predetermined criteria being satisfied. For example, this determination can be based on the interaction history between the first user and the second user. When the interaction history shows that the first user has great potential to be interested in the profile information of the second user, the notification may be provided. The predetermined criteria may include multiple factors, e.g., frequency of the calls, frequency of the email exchange, etc. If the predetermined criteria for providing a notification are determined not to be satisfied in block 608, the method 600 does not provide a notification and does not update any profiles and continues after block 616. On the other hand, if the predetermined criteria for providing a notification are determined to be satisfied in block 608, the method 600 proceeds to block 610, where the profile updating application 1206 determines whether the first user has dismissed a previously presented notification associated with the same profile information. For example, the client device 1215 can store a blacklist that shows every notification that the user has dismissed before and the profile updating application 1206 checks whether the notification to be provided associates with the same profile information in the black list. It should be understood that it could be other numbers of dismissals greater that one. For example, the notification may be presented up to three times and after that it will be inferred that the notification will not be presented any more. In other examples, the notification may include two dismissal button, one for only this instance and another for all future instances, this was explicit feedback from the user may be used in future determination steps. In some instances, the black list can be stored in a per-device way, but not in a per-account way. If the notification matches any of the dismissed notifications in the blacklist, meaning the first user of the client device does not interested in this notification. To improve the user experience, the method 600 continues after block 616 and won't annoy the first user with the same notification once again. On the other hand, if the first user has not dismissed a previously presented notification associated with the same profile information, then the method 600 proceeds to block 612.
The notification engine 1326 provides 612 the notification to the first user of the client device. The information updating engine 1328 receives 614 an input responsive to the notification from the first user. For example, the input may indicate that the first user want to connect with the second user on social network. In another example, the input may indicate that the user wants to store the profile information of the second user as a contact in the contact information on the client device. The information updating engine 1328 updates 616 the first user's social graph on a social network with the profile information based on the input from the user. In some instances, the information updating engine 1328 also updates the contact information or the social graph of the first user in multiple social networks and external databases. For example, the External database can be a database directed to career connections, a database centered on local business or other databases of general interest or a specific focus.
The network 1205 may be a conventional type of network, wired or wireless, and may have any number of configurations for example a star configuration, token ring configuration or other configurations. Furthermore, the network 1205 may comprise a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) (e.g. the Internet), and/or any other interconnected data path across which multiple devices may communicate. In some instances, the network 1205 may be a peer-to-peer network. The network 1205 may also be coupled to or includes portions of a telecommunications network for sending data in variety of different communication protocols. In some other instances, the network 1205 includes Bluetooth communication networks or a cellular communication network for sending and receiving data for example via SMS/MMS, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), direct data connection, WAP, e-mail or another suitable type of electronic communication. While only one network 1205 is illustrated, any number of networks may be coupled to the above mentioned entities.
The client devices 1215a, 1215n in
In some instances, the client device 1215 includes a profile updating application 1206. The profile updating application 1206 can be code and routines stored in the memory and executed by the processor of the client device 1215. The profile updating application 1206 includes modules or routines that can retrieve profile information hosted by the servers 1202, 1230, 1236, 1232 and 1234 and can present the retrieved profile information on a display device 1345 of the client device 1215a. In some other instances, the profile updating application 1206 retrieves and presents profile information hosted by the client device 1215 itself. The term profile information includes any document or information resource that comprises textual elements, non-textual elements (for example, static images, animated images, audio, video, etc.), interactive elements (for example, games, buttons, hyperlinks, etc.), scripts (for example, JavaScript, code implementing Ajax techniques, etc.), metadata, etc.
In some instances (not shown), the profile updating application 1206 may also be operable on the social network server 1202, which is coupled to the network 1205 via signal line 1210. The social network server 1202 can be a hardware server or servers that include a processor, a memory and network communication capabilities. The social network server 1202 sends and receives data to and from one or more of the client devices 1215a, 1215n and/or other servers 1202 via the network 1205. In some instances, the social network server 1202 can be an implementation making use of Representational State Transfer (REST) principles and supporting data representation in JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format. In other instances, the social network server 1202 can include multiple instances and each instance can include its own directory structure, configuration and deployed applications. For example, a test instance on the social network server 1202 can be for internal quality assurance and trouble shooting and a production instance on the social network server 1202 can be for generating a response to external requests.
In some instances, the social network server 1202 includes a profile retrieval application 1207 as a standalone application as shown in
The email server 1236 hosts an electronic mail service and stores email interaction information and email profile information. The email server 1236 provides the email profile and email interaction information responsive to requests from the profile retrieval application 1207 or the profile updating application 1206. For example, the email server 1236 provides information related to a second user's email address, email exchange between the users, etc. The email server 1236 is coupled for communication and cooperation with the client devices 1215 and other servers 1202, 1230, 1232 and 1234 by the network 1205.
The profile server 1230 stores and provides profile information for various system and cooperates with those systems to receive, send and verify profile information. The profile server 1230 provides or stores profile information responsive to requests from the profile retrieval application 1207 or the profile updating application 1206. The profile server 1230 is coupled for communication and cooperation with the client devices 1215 and other servers 1202, 1232, 1234 and 1236 by the network 1205.
The web search server 1232 provides access to web pages and other information available on the Internet. The web search server 1232 provides information responsive to requests from the profile retrieval application 1207 or the profile updating application 1206. For example, the web search server 1232 can provide profile information retrieved from web pages, for example business information about business, or biographical information about users, or even a social network ID. The web search server 1232 is coupled for communication and cooperation with the client devices 1215 and other servers 1202, 1230, 1234 and 1236 by the network 1205.
The third-party servers 1234a-1234n includes various servers and provide various services and associate profile information. For example, the third-party servers 1234a-1234n in in some implementations include an advertisement server, a document server, a blogging server, a news feed server, a video sharing server, a photo sharing server, a map server, a gaming sever, etc. The third-party servers 1234a-1234n may optionally include the profile retrieval application 1207 or the profile updating application 1206 for retrieving or presenting profile information as has been described above. For example, the third-party server 1234n may be a video sharing online server that plays a video responsive to receiving a user request from the client device 1215. The users of the video sharing online server can share video to each other and connect with each other. The video sharing online server can retrieve profile information associated with a certain user who matches the search attributes, and provide that profile information to the profile updating application 1206 of the client device 1215. The third-party servers 1234a-1234n are coupled for communication and cooperation with the client devices 1215 and other servers 1202, 1230, 1232 and 1236 by the network 1205.
Referring now to
The software communication mechanism 1306 may be an object bus (e.g., CORBA), direct socket communication (e.g., TCP/IP sockets) among software modules, remote procedure calls, UDP broadcasts and receipts, HTTP connections, function or procedure calls, etc. Further, any or all of the communication could be secure (SSH, HTTPS, etc). The software communication mechanism 1306 can be implemented on any underlying hardware, for example, a network, the Internet, a bus, a combination thereof, etc.
The processor 1335 includes an arithmetic logic unit, a microprocessor, a general-purpose controller or some other processor array to perform computations and provide electronic display signals to a display device. The processor 1335 is coupled to the software communication mechanism 1306 for communication with the other components. Processor 1335 may process data signals and may comprise various computing architectures including a complex instruction set computer (CISC) architecture, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture, or an architecture implementing a combination of instruction sets. Although only a single processor is shown in
The memory 1337 stores instructions and/or data that may be executed by processor 1335. The memory 1337 is coupled to the software communication mechanism 1306 for communication with the other components. The instructions and/or data may include code for performing any and/or all of the techniques described herein. The memory 1337 may be a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device, a static random access memory (SRAM) device, flash memory or some other memory device known in the art. In some instances, the memory 1337 also includes a non-volatile memory or similar permanent storage device and media for example a disk drive, a CD-ROM device, a DVD-ROM device, a DVD-RAM device, a DVD-RW device, a flash memory device, or some other mass storage device known in the art for storing information on a more permanent basis.
The communication unit 1341 transmits and receives data to and from of the client device 1215 and its components. More specifically, the communication unit 1341 sends data to and from the profile updating application 1206 and the other servers 1202, 1230, 1232, 1234 and 1236 via signal line 1214 and the network 105. The communication unit 1341 is coupled to the software communication mechanism 1306 for communication with other components of the profile updating application 1206. In some instances, the communication unit 1341 includes a port for direct physical connection to the network 1205 or to another communication channel. For example, the communication unit 1341 includes a USB, SD, RJ-45 or similar port for wired communication with the client device 1215. In some other instances, the communication unit 1341 includes a wireless transceiver for exchanging data with the client device 1215 or any other communication channel using one or more wireless communication methods, e.g., IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, BLUETOOTH® or another suitable wireless communication method. In some instances, the communication unit 1341 includes a cellular communications transceiver for sending and receiving data over a cellular communications network e.g., via short messaging service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), direct data connection, WAP, e-mail or another suitable type of electronic communication. In some other instances, the communication unit 1341 includes a wired port and a wireless transceiver. The communication unit 1341 also provides other conventional connections to the network for distribution of files and/or media objects using standard network protocols e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS and SMTP.
The display device 1345 is a liquid crystal display (LCD) or any other similarly equipped display device, screen, or monitor. The display device 1345 represents any device equipped to display user interfaces, electronic images and data as described herein. In different embodiments, the display is binary (only two different values for pixels), monochrome (multiple shades of one color), or allows multiple colors and shades. The display device 1345 is preferably a light-weight low-power display. The display device 1345 is coupled to the software communication mechanism 1306 to receive data and images for display.
The storage device 1343 can be a non-transitory memory that stores data used by the profile updating application 1206. In some instances the data is stored temporarily, for example, a cache. The storage device 1343 may be a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device, a static random access memory (SRAM) device, flash memory or some other memory device known in the art. In some instances, the storage device 1343 also includes a non-volatile memory or similar permanent storage device and media e.g., a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM device, a DVD-ROM device, a DVD-RAM device, a DVD-RW device, a flash memory device, or some other mass storage device known in the art for storing information on a more permanent basis. In the illustrated implementation, the storage device 1343 is communicatively coupled by the software communication mechanism 1306 for communication with the other components of the profile updating application 1206. Although only one storage device 1343 is shown in
The phone dialer application 1330 and other applications 1332 may be software including routines for processing phone call and communication from the client device 1215. The phone dialer application 1330 and other applications 1332 may maintain contact information, contact records, contact lists or books and other phone related functionality. In some instances, the phone dialer application 1330 and other applications 1332 capture and record calling signals or communication history or information relating to phone calls, text messaging or related telephony activity including the call frequency, call recency, call duration, call start time, call end time, call type, phone number called or texted, caller ID of incoming call or text, etc. This information may be provided to the profile updating application 1206. In some instances, the phone dialer application 1330 and other applications 1332 may be a set of instructions executable by the processor 1335 to provide the functionality described above. In some other instances, the phone dialer application 1330 and other applications 1332 can be stored in the memory 1337 of the client device 1215 and can be accessible and executable by the processor 1335.
In some instances, the profile updating application 1206 includes an activity detecting engine 1320, an attribute extraction engine 1322, a profile retrieving engine 1324, a notification engine 1326, and an information updating engine 1328. These components of the profile updating application 1206 are communicatively coupled by the software communication mechanism 1306 to each other and the other components of the client device 1215.
The activity detecting engine 1320 can be software including routines for detecting activity related to the contact information, routing the data of the detected activity to the appropriate module or unit. In some instances, the activity detecting engine 1320 can be a set of instructions executable by the processor 1335 to provide the functionality described below for detecting activity. In some other instances, the activity detecting engine 1320 can be stored in the memory 1337 of the client device 1215 and can be accessible and executable by the processor 1335. In either of the instances, the activity detecting engine 1320 may be adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 1335 and other components of the client device 1215. The activity detecting engine 1320 detects an activity related to a contact information on the client device 1215. The activity detecting engine 1320 cooperates with the phone dialer application 1330 to receive the calling signals. For example, the activity can be an incoming call from an unknown number on the client device 1215, outgoing call to an unknown number from the client device 1215, adding a new contact item or record to the contact information on the client device 1215, or modifying an existing contact item or record on the contact information on the client device 1215, etc. The activity detecting engine 1320 may ask for permission to access the calling signals and call activity of client device 1215.
The attribute extraction engine 1322 can be software including routines for retrieving one or more attributes associated with the detected activity. In some instances, the attribute extraction engine 1322 can be a set of instructions executable by the processor 1335 to provide the functionality described below for detecting activity. In some other instances, the attribute extraction engine 1322 can be stored in the memory 1337 of the client device 1215 and can be accessible and executable by the processor 1335. In either of the instances, the attribute extraction engine 1322 may be adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 1335 and other components of the client device 1215. In some instances, the attribute extraction engine 1322 receives the data related to the detected activity (e.g., the calling signals) from the activity detecting engine 1320 via software communication mechanism 1306. The attribute extraction engine 1322 analyzes the detected activity and retrieves attributes from the detected activity. For example, if the detected activity is an incoming phone call or an outgoing phone call, the attribute is the phone number of the call. In some other instances when the detected activity is adding a new contact item or modifying an existing contact item, the attributes extracted by the attribute extraction engine 1322 can be any one or more fields or data from the contact item.
The profile retrieving engine 1324 can be software including routines for retrieving profile information associated with the retrieved one or more attributes. In some instances, the profile retrieving engine 1324 can be a set of instructions executable by the processor 1335 to provide the functionality described below for detecting activity. In some other instances, the profile retrieving engine 1324 can be stored in the memory 1337 of the client device 1215 and can be accessible and executable by the processor 1335. In either of the instances, the profile retrieving engine 1324 may be adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 1335 and other components of the client device 1215.
In some instances, the profile retrieving engine 1324 receives the attributes from the attribute extraction engine 1322. The profile retrieving engine 1324 may generate a request based on the attributes and sends the request to the social network server 1202 via the communication unit 1341. The profile retrieving engine 1324 receives the response from the social network server 1202 and stores the response in the storage device 1343. In some instances, the response from the social network server 1202 may include a notification having the profile information associated with the one or more attributes. In some other instances, the response from the social network server 1202 may be the profile information associated with the one or more attributes and the interaction history on the social network between the first user 1225a of the client device 1215a and a second user who is related to the detected activity. It should be understood that the profile retrieving engine 1324 may perform a similar processes to those described above with reference to the social network server 1202, but to retrieve information from other social network servers 1202b . . . 1202n, the profile server 1230, the email server 1236, the web search server 1232 or any one of the third-party servers 1234a . . . 1234n.
In some instances, the profile retrieving engine 1324 determines whether to retrieve the profile information prior to generating and sending the request. For example, the profile retrieving engine 1324 determines whether the client device 1215 has an application installed that automatically retrieves the profile information. Since some special dialers or applications automatically retrieve profile information and update the contact information stored at the client device 1215 with this information, it would be redundant for the user to have to review two similar notifications and it also is unnecessary to retrieve the information a second time. Therefore, if an application that automatically retrieves the profile information has been installed, the profile retrieving engine 1324 may retrieve the profile information from the contact information based on recent updates. Similarly, the profile retrieving engine 1324 may determines whether a social network application that already includes the profile information associated with the one or more attributes is installed on the client device 1215 has prior to generating and sending the request. When the profile information is already available at the client device 1215, there is no need to ask for the profile information.
In some instances, the profile retrieving engine 1324 determines which social network account to use for retrieving the profile information where the first user has a plurality of accounts on different social networks prior to generating and sending the request. In some instances, the profile retrieving engine 1324 picks up the first account that it finds on the client device 1215. In some other instances, the profile retrieving engine 1324 looks up all the accounts on the client device 1215 and picks the account with the richest profile information and data. The predetermined rule for picking up account from multiple accounts is adjustable and stored in the storage device 1343. In yet other instances, the first user of the client device 1215 can pick up the account manually or assign a priority level to each social network.
The notification engine 1326 can be software including routines for providing notification to the first user. In some instances, the notification engine 1326 can be a set of instructions executable by the processor 1335 to provide the functionality described below for detecting activity. In some other instances, the notification engine 1326 can be stored in the memory 1337 of the client device 1215 and can be accessible and executable by the processor 1335. In either of the instances, the notification engine 1326 may be adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 1335 and other components of the client device 1215.
In some instances, the notification engine 1326 provides the notification to the first user 1225 of the client device 1215 by sending the notification to be shown to the display device 1345 for presentation. In some instances, the notification engine 1326 generates the notification from data received from the profile retrieving engine 1324. This can be raw data and the notification must be generate or it can be a notification that has already been generated, for example, by the profile retrieval application 1207. The notification can include the various types of communication history, e.g., email exchange and phone calls etc., between the first user and a second user associated with the detected activity. In another example, the notification can include the retrieved profile information or the social network ID associated with the attributes. In yet another example, the notification can include query to the first user regarding whether the user wants to add the second user as a connection. More detailed examples of notifications have been described above with reference to
In some instances, the notification engine 1326 determines whether to provide a notification based on predetermined criteria prior to providing the notification to the user. The predetermined criteria are adjustable and stored in the storage device 1343. The criteria may be multiple factors that each reflects a degree of interestingness of the notification to the user. The criteria may take the interaction history between the first user of the client device and a second user associated with the detected activity into consideration. For example, when there were four phone call exchanges during the past week between the two users, it indicates that the two users interacted with each other several times and it is not from an accidentally dialed phone call.
In some instances, the notification engine 1326 determines whether the first user has dismissed a notification associated with the same profile information and the number of times the first user has dismissed similar notifications. The notification engine 1326 may create a threshold of a number of dismissals based on user preference settings or input as to how many notifications about a particular user or subject matters the user wants to see before the sending the notifications ceases. The notification engine 1326 may create a blacklist or do not notify list including the dismissed notifications and the associated social network ID. The blacklist may be stored in the storage device 1343. In some instances, the blacklist may be stored in a per-device way, but not in a per-account way. The notification engine 1326 may check whether the notification to be provide matches any of the dismissed notifications in the blacklist, meaning the first user is not interested in this notification.
The information updating engine 1328 can be software including routines for receiving the user's input responsive to the notification including the profile information and updating a profile with that profile information. For example, the profile may be the first user's profile on the client device 1215, in the social network servers 1202a . . . 1202n, the profile server 1230, the email server 1236, the web search server 1232 or any one of the third-party servers 1234a . . . 1234n. In some instances, the information updating engine 1328 can be a set of instructions executable by the processor 1335 to provide the functionality described below for receiving the user's input responsive to the notification including the profile information and updating a profile with that profile information. In some other instances, the information updating engine 1328 can be stored in the memory 1337 of the client device 1215 and can be accessible and executable by the processor 1335. In either of the instances, the information updating engine 1328 may be adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 1335 and other components of the client device 1215. In some instances, the information updating engine 1328 receives an input responsive to the notification from the first user. For example, the input may indicate that the first user want to connect with the second user on social network. In another example, the input may indicate that the user wants to store the profile information of the second user as a contact in the contact information on the client device 1215. The information updating engine 1328 updates the first user's social graph on a social network with the profile information based on the input from the user. For example, responsive to the user's input indicating that the first user wants to connect with the second user, the social network adds the other users as a connection on a social network.
In some instances, the information updating engine 1328 may also update contact information of a first user in multiple external databases with profile information associated with the second user. The contact information of the first user may include, but not limited to, a contact list, a social graph, a profile, etc. The profile information of the second user may include, but not limited to, a name, a phone number, a location, etc. For example, the information updating engine 1328 may update a contact list of the first user in an external database directed to business networking with a name and a phone number of a service provider in response to receiving a call from the service provider. Or, based on a call from the first user to a journal editor who is working on publication of an article of the first user, the information updating engine 1328 may update a publication group of the first user in an external database centered on academics with available hours of the journal editor. Or the information updating engine 1328 may update a match list of the first user in an external database directed to dating with a name, a photo, a meeting time, a meeting location of a contact in response to saving the contact that matches user interests of the first user. Or the information updating engine 1328 may add a new contact name in a social graph of the first user in different social networks.
In some instances, once the contact information of the first user is updated with the profile information associated with the second user, the information updating engine 1328 also connects the first user to the second user. The second user may be associated with a call with the first user and determined by the phone number of the call. The second user may also be a new contact saved in the external database. In some instances, the information updating engine 1328 may suggest a connection between the first user and the second user and actually establish the connection between the first user and the second user in response to receiving an acceptance of the suggested connection from at least one of the first and second users. For example, the information updating engine 1328 may set up a bi-directional connection between the first and second users upon receiving acceptance from both the first user and the second user, and may set up a single-directional connection from one user to another user upon merely receiving acceptance from one of the two users. In other instances, the information updating engine 1328 may notify the first user to connect with the second user.
Referring now to
The profile retrieval application 1207 generates a notification including the profile information and sends the notification to the first user of the client device 1215. The example notifications are describe in more detail in
The request receiving engine 1422, the profile information retrieving engine 1428, the application program interface (API) 1420, the web search engine 1424, the email exchange data retrieving engine 1426, the name resolution service engine 1432 and the spam filter 1430 may be software including routines for performing the operations and functions described below. In some instances, the request receiving engine 1422, the profile information retrieving engine 1428, the application program interface (API) 1420, the web search engine 1424, the email exchange data retrieving engine 1426, the name resolution service engine 1432 and the spam filter 1430 can be sets of instructions executable by the processor 1335 to provide the functionality described below. In some other instances, the request receiving engine 1422, the profile information retrieving engine 1428, the application program interface (API) 1420, the web search engine 1424, the email exchange data retrieving engine 1426, the name resolution service engine 1432 and the spam filter 1430 can be stored in the memory 1337 of the social network server 1202a and can be accessible and executable by the processor 1335. In any of the instances, the request receiving engine 1422, the profile information retrieving engine 1428, the application program interface (API) 1420, the web search engine 1424, the email exchange data retrieving engine 1426, the name resolution service engine 1432 and the spam filter 1430 may be adapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 1335 and other components of social network server 1202a.
In some instances, the request receiving engine 1422 receives a request from the client device 1215 for profile information based on one or more attributes. To be more specific, the request receiving engine 1422 receives a request from the profile retrieving engine 1324 of the profile updating application 1206. For example, the request receiving engine 1422 receives a request including a phone number for profile information. In some other instances, the request may include more data attributes from data fields of a modified contact record.
In some instances, the profile retrieval application 1207 retrieves profile information from multiple databases, for example, find a social network ID associated with the one or more attributes using Name Resolution Service. The API 1420, web search engine 1424, email exchange data retrieving engine 1426, and name resolution service engine 1432 work together to look up the social network id associated with the one or more attributes. For example, the profile retrieval application 1207 may interact with the API 1420 to the social network application 1204 in order to retrieve the social network ID. In another example, the profile retrieval application 1207 may interact with the web search engine 1424 to perform a search of the Internet to find the social network ID associated with the one or more attributes. In yet another example, the profile retrieval application 1207 may interact with the email exchange data retrieving engine 1426 to communicate with the email server 1236 to retrieve the social network ID. It should be noted that the profile retrieval application 1207 may interact with other sources or the combination of the above mentioned sources and other sources to find the social network ID. Under some circumstances, the profile retrieval application 1207 may find more than one social network IDs that associated with the same attribute or the same group of attributes. The name resolution service engine 1432 is utilized to further identify the most likely social network ID from other related social network IDs.
In some instances, the profile information retrieving engine 1428 retrieves profile information associated with the social network ID or the attributes. For example, the retrieve profile information may include the following: age, gender, geographical location, profile photo, phone number, work information, education, browsed content, registered applications, posts, comments, reshares, endorsements, interests, groups joined by a user associated with the number, etc.
In some instances, the spam filter 1430 may calculate a score for the social network ID to determine whether to provide the notification to the client device 1215. In some instances, the score is calculated based on frequency and other factors. For example, when activity is a call and this is the third phone call between the first user and the second user associated with this phone number during the past week, the score for this social network ID is higher than if there were only a single call between the two users. The spam filter 1430 determines whether the score is above a predetermined threshold. If the score is not above the predetermined threshold, then spam filter 1430 prevents the profile information retrieving engine 1428 sends the notification to the client device 1215. The purpose of spam filter 1430 is to ensure that the user is not presented with too many the notifications so that user ignores or is bothered by the notifications. Other factors may also be taken into consideration when calculate the score, e.g., email exchange frequency, whether the second user is already a contact in the contact information, etc. To be noted, the calculation formula is adjustable by different cases and stored in the storage device 1443.
Reference in the specification to “some instances” or “an instance” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the instance is included in at least some instances of the description. The appearances of the phrase “in some instances” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same instance.
Some portions of the detailed descriptions that follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers or the like.
It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizing terms for example “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.
The present implementation of the specification also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, for example, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, flash memories including USB keys with non-volatile memory or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, each coupled to a computer system bus.
The specification can take the form of an entirely hardware instance, an entirely software instance or an instance containing both hardware and software elements. In a preferred implementation, the specification is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.
Furthermore, the description can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium (or other non-transitory storage medium) providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution.
Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers.
Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters.
Finally, the algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these systems will appear from the description below. In addition, the specification is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the specification as described herein.
The foregoing description of the instances of the specification has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the specification to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the disclosure be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims of this application. It should be understood that the specification may be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Likewise, the particular naming and division of the modules, routines, features, attributes, methodologies and other aspects are not mandatory or significant, and the mechanisms that implement the specification or its features may have different names, divisions and/or formats. Furthermore, the modules, routines, features, attributes, methodologies and other aspects of the disclosure can be implemented as software, hardware, firmware or any combination of the three. Also, wherever a component, an example of which is a module, of the specification is implemented as software, the component can be implemented as a standalone program, as part of a larger program, as a plurality of separate programs, as a statically or dynamically linked library, as a kernel loadable module, as a device driver, and/or in every and any other way known now or in the future. Additionally, the disclosure is in no way limited to implementation in any specific programming language, or for any specific operating system or environment. Accordingly, the disclosure is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the specification, which is set forth in the following claims.
Further to the descriptions above, a user may be provided with controls allowing the user to make an election as to both if and when systems, programs or features described herein may enable collection of user information (e.g., information about a user's social network, social actions or activities, profession, a user's preferences, a user's phone number, or a user's current location), and if the user is sent content or communications from a server. In addition, certain data may be treated in one or more ways before it is stored or used, so that personally identifiable information is removed. For example, a user's identity may be treated so that no personally identifiable information can be determined for the user, or a user's geographic location may be generalized where location information is obtained (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level), so that a particular location of a user cannot be determined. Thus, the user may have control over what information is collected about the user, how that information is used, and what information is provided to the user.
