Patent Application
20130007141
The present invention relates to communicating using computer-based technology, and more particularly to improving information exchange in the social network environment.
There are various means of communicating among people using computer-based technology. Such traditional forms include electronic mail, commonly called e-mail, which is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Another traditional form includes instant messaging, referring to real-time direct text-based communication between two or more people using personal computers or other devices.
A more recent type of communication using computer-based technology involves social networking A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people (e.g., who share interests and/or activities). A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks.
Currently, a great deal of information is created using traditional communication tools, such as e-mail, but is not made available on social networks, including blogs, forums, communities, due to the manual complexity of recognizing important information nuggets (portions of information) and copying such information nuggets to an appropriate public venue for consumption by the greater social network. Furthermore, information nuggets provided on a social network (e.g., posted comments or status updates) are not easily reposted on other social networking feeds.
Hence, information is not easily exchanged from traditional forms of communication (e.g., e-mail) to more recent types of communication (e.g., social networks) or even among different social networking feeds.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for improving information exchange in a social network environment comprises detecting actions performed on an electronic object. The method further comprises detecting entry of said electronic object in a social networking website. Additionally, the method comprises identifying an association between the social networking website and the electronic object. Furthermore, the method comprises identifying one or more rule patterns based on the detected actions, the detected entry of the electronic object in the social networking website and the identified association between the networking website and the electronic object. In addition, the method comprises storing an indication of the association between the social networking website and the electronic object in terms of concept nodes in a hierarchical tree using the identified one or more rule patterns. Furthermore, the method comprises searching, by a processor, for any social networking feeds of interest using the hierarchical tree as well as a current electronic object of a user.
Other forms of the embodiment of the method described above are in a system and in a computer program product.
The foregoing has outlined rather generally the features and technical advantages of one or more embodiments of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the present invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the present invention will be described hereinafter which may form the subject of the claims of the present invention.
A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained when the following detailed description is considered in conjunction with the following drawings, in which:
The present invention comprises a method, system and computer program product for improving information exchange in a social network environment. In one embodiment of the present invention, actions (e.g., copying, highlighting) being performed on an electronic object (e.g., e-mail, status update, comment) are detected. Furthermore, the entry of the electronic object in a social networking website (e.g., sports group blog) is detected thereby identifying an association between this electronic object and this social networking website. Rule patterns are identified based on these detected actions and these associations between electronic objects and social networking websites. Indications of these associations are stored in terms of concept nodes in a hierarchical tree using the identified rule patterns. Social networking feeds of interest are then searched using the hierarchical tree as well as a current electronic object of a user (e.g., status message on a social networking feed, instant message, e-mail). The user would then be provided an opportunity to repost an information nugget from the current electronic object in one or more of these social networking feeds of interest. In this manner, the user can more effectively exchange information with other users by responding to these social networking feeds using information nuggets from traditional forms of communication (e.g., e-mail) as well as reposting previously posted messages on other social networking feeds.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits have been shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the present invention in unnecessary detail. For the most part, details considering timing considerations and the like have been omitted inasmuch as such details are not necessary to obtain a complete understanding of the present invention and are within the skills of persons of ordinary skill in the relevant art.
Referring now to the Figures in detail,
Client devices 101 may participate in a social network by communicating (by wire or wirelessly) over a network 102, which may be, for example, a local area network, a wide area network, a wireless wide area network, a circuit-switched telephone network, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) network, a WiFi network, an IEEE 802.11 standards network, various combinations thereof, etc. Other networks, whose descriptions are omitted here for brevity, may also be used in conjunction with system 100 of
System 100 further includes a social network server 103, which may be a web server configured to offer a social networking and/or microblogging service, enabling users of client devices 101 to send and read other users' posts. “Posts,” as used herein, include any one or more of the following: text (e.g., comments, sub-comments and replies), audio, video images, etc. Social network server 103 is connected to network 102 by wire or wirelessly. While
System 100 further includes a concept service server 104 connected to network 102 by wire or wirelessly. Concept service server 104 is trained to identify rule patterns (e.g., presence of the string “Detroit Tigers” in an electronic object denotes that the electronic object is associated with a particular sports forum) and associations of electronic objects (e.g., e-mails) with social networking websites as discussed in further detail below. A description of the hardware configuration of concept service server 104 is provided below in connection with
System 100 is not to be limited in scope to any one particular network architecture. System 100 may include any number of clients 101, social network servers 103 and concept service servers 104. Furthermore, in one embodiment, concept service server 104 may be part of social network server 103.
Referring now to
Referring again to
Concept service server 104 may further include a communications adapter 209 coupled to bus 202. Communications adapter 209 interconnects bus 202 with an outside network (network 102) thereby allowing concept service server 104 to communicate with client devices 101 and social network servers 103.
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” ‘module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.
Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus or device.
Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the C programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the present invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to product a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the function/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the function/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
As stated in the Background section, currently, a great deal of information is created using traditional communication tools, such as e-mail, but is not made available on social networks, including blogs, forums, communities, due to the manual complexity of recognizing important information nuggets (portions of information) and copying such information nuggets to an appropriate public venue for consumption by the greater social network. Furthermore, information nuggets provided on a social network (e.g., posted comments or status updates) are not easily reposted on other social networking feeds. Hence, information is not easily exchanged from traditional forms of communication (e.g., e-mail) to more recent types of communication (e.g., social networks) or even among different social networking feeds.
The principles of the present invention provide a means for effectively exchanging information from traditional forms of communication (e.g., e-mail) to more recent types of communication (e.g., social networks) or even among different social networking feeds as discussed below in connection with
As stated above,
Referring to
In step 302, concept service server 104 detects the actions performed on the electronic object by the user of client 101. Such actions may include active actions (e.g., copy, paste) or passive actions (e.g., highlighting) which are used to identify information nuggets of interest. For example, suppose that in the e-mail received by client 101 regarding the Detroit Tigers draft selections there was some information regarding a catcher that played in the user's hometown. The user may perform an action regarding such information, such as copying, pasting or highlighting, the information.
In step 303, concept service server 104 detects the entry of the electronic object, such as the information nugget of interest discussed above, in one or more social networking websites, including blogs, forums, communities, etc. For instance, referring to the example above, suppose that the user of client 101 would like to post the information regarding the catcher from his/her hometown that was drafted by the Detroit Tigers on his/her home page on Facebook® as well as on a particular sports group forum.
In step 304, concept service server 104 identifies any associations between the social networking websites and the electronic object received in step 301. For instance, referring to the example above, concept service server 104 identifies the association between the user's home page on Facebook® and the electronic object received in step 301, including the information nugget pertaining to the catcher draft by the Detroit Tigers. Furthermore, service server 104 identifies the association between the sports group forum used by the user of client 101 and the electronic object received in step 301, including the information nugget pertaining to the catcher draft by the Detroit Tigers.
In step 305, concept service server 104 identifies rule patterns based on the detected actions of the user (steps 302, 303) and the associations of the social networking websites with the electronic objects (step 304) as will be discussed in further detail below in connection with step 306.
In step 306, concept service server 104 stores indications of the associations (associations between the social networking websites and the electronic objects) in terms of concept nodes in a hierarchical tree using the identified rule patterns of step 305. In one embodiment, a hierarchical tree may be established that identifies conceptual relationships based on organization/categorization criteria. An example of such a hierarchical tree is presented in
Referring to
Node 401, for example, shows that the objects are organized according to activity. It is noted that objects may be organized in other manners, such as by project, etc. and that
For example, referring to
Tree hierarchy 400 further illustrates an association between these concepts or activities to various social networking websites based on the rule patterns deduced by concept service server 104. These rule patterns are based on the actions of the user of client 101 performed on an electronic object (detected by concept service server 104 in step 302) and the entry of the electronic object in a social networking website (detected by concept service server 104 in step 303). For instance, referring to the above example, if the user of client 101 copies and pastes the information nugget pertaining to the catcher draft by the Detroit Tigers in a particular social forum (e.g., Detroit Tigers sports group forum represented by concept node 408), then concept service server 104 may associate such a sports forum with the category of baseball (represented by the concept node of 404), especially if the user consistently inputs information nuggets regarding baseball in this particular social forum. Similarly, the user of client 101 may input information nuggets pertaining to the category of hockey in a sports group forum (e.g., Detroit Red Wings sports group forum represented by concept node 409). Other examples include the user of client 101 inputting information nuggets pertaining to the category of foreign travel in a blog (e.g., Lonely Planet® blog represented by concept node 410) as well as inputting information nuggets pertaining to the category of United States travel in a blog (e.g., United States travel blog represented by concept node 411). Using the examples above, an example of a rule pattern would be that when the string of “Detroit Tigers” is present in an electronic object, there is an association with that electronic object to the category of sports, sub-category of baseball and the social networking website represented by node 408.
In one embodiment, concept service server 104 deduces attributes, such as tag values, based on the detected actions in steps 302, 303. A tag is a term that is associated with a piece of information, such as a value that indicates the degree of correlation between the information nugget in question and the social networking website. In one embodiment, concept service server 104 may assign weight and/or a confidence level to express the degree of correlation between the information nugget in question and the social networking website. In this manner, concept service server 104 may apply such weights/confidence levels in recommending social networking feeds as discussed further below in connection with
Returning to
After training concept service server 104 to heuristically associate information nuggets with particular social networking websites, including blogs, forums, communities, concept service server 104 identifies relevant social networking feeds to include information nuggets, including current content posts, that match the node selection criteria and/or content of interest in current electronic objects as discussed below in connection with
Referring to
“Match node selection criteria,” refers to using the rule-based indexing depicted in hierarchical tree 400 via the inter-relationships between the concept nodes. Match node selection criteria applies the rule patterns to the current electronic object (discussed in more detail below) to determine if there is a rule pattern associated with the content (e.g., string) present in the current electronic object. A “current electronic object” refers to an electronic object (e.g., e-mail, status message on a social networking feed, comment on a social networking feed) currently being inputted by the user, such as an object that is currently being typed by the user. For example, referring to the examples above, suppose that the user of client 101 is currently typing a social feed regarding last night's victory by the Detroit Tigers. Using the concept nodes of hierarchical tree 400, concept service server 104 may determine that there is a rule pattern associated with the string of “Detroit Tigers” in the current electronic object (social feed) where the social networking website represented by node 408 is associated with the string of “Detroit Tigers.” As a result, such a social networking website may be identified as a social networking feed of interest by concept service server 104.
Content of interest refers to keywords (e.g., the term “sunburn” in a post regarding the cure for a sunburn) in the content of the current electronic object. An example of concept service server 104 identifying social networking feeds of interest that match the content of interest in current electronic objects is discussed further below in connection with
Referring again to
If, however, concept service server 104 identified one or more social networking feeds of interest, then, in step 503, concept service server 104 provides the user of client 101 links to the identified social networking feeds of interest. In one embodiment, these links are to social networking feeds of interest that are believed to be of interest to the user of client 101 based on the content of the user's current electronic object, including the scenario of when the user is in the process of typing the electronic object. In one embodiment, these links are to social networking feeds of interest that are believed to be of interest to the user to post a reply, including reposting a previously posted message as well as posting information nuggets from traditional forms of communication. In one embodiment, such links may be provided to the user via traditional forms of communication, such as e-mail or instant messaging.
In step 504, concept service server 104 provides the user of client 101 an opportunity to respond to the identified social networking feeds of interest. In this manner, the user of client 101 can more effectively exchange information with other users by responding to these social networking feeds using information nuggets from traditional forms of communication as well as reposting previously posted messages on other social networking feeds.
For example, referring to
Returning to
If the user indicates that he/she does not want to respond to any of the social networking feeds provided to the user, then concept service server 104 continues to search for any social networking feeds of interest that match node selection criteria and/or content of interest in current electronic objects in step 501.
If, however, the user indicates, such as by selection as illustrated in
In some implementations, method 500 may include other and/or additional steps that, for clarity, are not depicted. Further, in some implementations, method 500 may be executed in a different order presented and that the order presented in the discussion of
Although the method, system and computer program product are described in connection with several embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific forms set forth herein, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications and equivalents, as can be reasonably included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
