Embodiments of the present invention relate to computer-readable media and method for providing a personal assistant on a peer-to-peer social network to remind users of upcoming events and provide gift suggestions for events for which a gift is needed. An electronic gift suggestion for a first user is communicated to a second user in an online social network. The gift suggestion is based on information provided in the user profile of the first user. The information provided by the first user may be varied and can range from actual gift suggestions to a wish list or no information at all. The information may include the first user's demographics, interests, purchase history, etc. The gift suggestions are tailored to the first user based on the information and presented to the second user.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
The subject matter of embodiments of the present invention is described with specificity herein to meet statutory requirements. However, the description itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. Rather, the inventors have contemplated that the claimed subject matter might also be embodied in other ways, to include different steps or combinations of steps similar to the ones described in this document, in conjunction with other present or future technologies. Moreover, although the terms “step” and/or “block” may be used herein to connote different elements of methods employed, the terms should not be interpreted as implying any particular order among or between various steps herein disclosed unless and except when the order of individual steps is explicitly described.
Referring to the drawings in general, and initially to
Embodiments may be described in the general context of computer code or machine-useable instructions, including computer-executable instructions such as program modules, being executed by a computer or other machine, such as a personal data assistant or other handheld device. Generally, program modules including routines, programs, objects, modules, data structures, and the like, refer to code that performs particular tasks, or implement particular abstract data types. Embodiments may be practiced in a variety of system configurations, including hand-held devices, consumer electronics, general-purpose computers, specialty computing devices, etc. Embodiments may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote-processing devices that are linked through a communications network.
With continued reference to
Computing device 100 typically includes a variety of computer-readable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprise Random Access Memory (RAM); Read Only Memory (ROM); Electronically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM); flash memory or other memory technologies; CDROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical or holographic media; magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, carrier wave or any other medium that can be used to encode desired information and be accessed by computing device 100.
Memory 112 includes computer-storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory. The memory may be removable, non-removable, or a combination thereof. Exemplary hardware devices include solid-state memory, hard drives, optical-disc drives, etc. Computing device 100 includes one or more processors that read data from various entities such as memory 112 or I/O modules 120. Presentation module(s) 116 present data indications to a user or other device. Exemplary presentation modules include a display device, speaker, printing module, vibrating module, etc. I/O ports 118 allow computing device 100 to be logically coupled to other devices including I/O modules 120, some of which may be built in. Illustrative modules include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, printer, wireless device, etc.
Embodiments of the present invention enable a user to receive a reminder and gift suggestions for another user. The gift suggestions may be created from a variety of inputs.
In a first aspect, computer-readable storage media performs a method of communicating an electronic gift suggestion for a first user to a second user. A social profile is accessed for the first user which is created by the first user in an online social network. Gift suggestions are determined based on the social profile. The gift suggestions are provided to the second user. The second user participates in the online social network.
In another aspect, computer-readable storage media performs a method of electronically suggesting a gift for a first user. Inputs about the first user are received from a second user. The second user desires to receive a gift suggestion for the first user. Factors associated with the first user are evaluated in order to determine the gift suggestion. The factors include analyzing a purchasing history of the first user, a social profile of the first user, a wish list of the first user, and a history of advertisements viewed by the first user. The gift suggestion is determined from the one or more factors. The gift suggestion is provided to the second user.
In yet another aspect, a method for automatically suggesting a gift near a specified date is provided that includes accessing a social profile associated with a first user in an online social network. The social profile includes personal and demographic information. Third-party websites are accessed to retrieve sales data associated with persons similar to the first user or gift choices for persons similar to the first user. The sales data or the gift choices are received to perform an analysis to determine gift suggestions. The gift suggestions are provided to the second user. The second user participates in the online social network.
With reference to
In
It is understood that this and other arrangements described herein are set forth only as examples. Each of the components shown in
Social network 210 allows users to communicate with each other. Exemplary social network 210 includes peer-to-peer networks that allow users to maintain social relationships. Examples of social networks include but are not limited to FACEBOOK by Facebook, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., MYSPACE by MySpace Inc. of Beverly Hills, Calif., and FRIENDSTER by Friendster, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Del. Social network 210 may allow users to share pictures, videos, instant message one another, blog, and the like. In one embodiment, social network 210 includes user profile module 225 and personal assistant module 230. Social network 210 allows users to establish relationships with each other and store information about each other in their contact list which may be located in their user profiles module 225. Social network 210 includes a personal assistant 230 that assists users with event reminders and/or gift suggestions. Referring to
Personal assistant 230 provides a social network user 250 with reminders of upcoming events and suggests appropriate gifts for those events and users for whom a gift would be appropriate. Personal assistant 230 reminds users when an event occurs, and leverages information stored about the gift recipient in the peer-to-peer network to make relevant gift suggestions. For example, personal assistant 230 may remind a user 250 of an approaching birthday for a recipient (another user) 280 (such as a friend or family member of the user), and provide suggestions to user 250 for gifts for recipient 280.
The gift ideas may be highly customized based on information for the recipient 280 from the recipient's peer-to-peer social network profile 225. The gift suggestions may be based on demographic information in the user profile 225, a wish list 265 or link to a wish list in the user profile 225, on the types of products purchased by the second user 280 in the user profile 225 and combinations thereof. In one embodiment, accessing component 310 accesses the second user's network profile 225 and gift suggestion component 320 suggests gifts for the second user.
Personal assistant 230 may also allow users to create a wish list 265 or link to a wish list created on online merchant site so that when an event comes around (e.g., a birthday, anniversary, new baby, wedding), the gift buying user 250 is presented with suggestions desired by the second user 280. “Wish lists” from other online merchants 240 may linked or aggregated in user profile 225. In one embodiment, multiple wish lists from multiple online merchants may be aggregated into a single wish list contained in user profile 225.
Online merchant 240 may include but are not limited to auction sites, wholesalers, retailers, search site, and consolidators. Many online merchants allow users to create and store wish lists 255 of items that they would like to have. Many of these wish lists can be linked to or may be referenced in user profiles 225 on the social network 210.
Displaying component 330 of
When the personal assistant 230 encounters someone that does not have a populated wish list or link to a wish list, personal assistant 230 may utilize demographic information about the user from their profile 220 to provide gift suggestions. Demographic information for the user may include interests, likes, dislikes, age, sex, social-economic status, health and the like. Utilizing demographic information from the user profile 220, personal assistant 230 may access third party sales data 285 to make gift suggestions for the gift recipient user 280. For example, a third-party sales data 285 from a data source 270 may suggest that women from ages 30-50 purchase a particular brand of shoes. The personal assistant 230 may determine that the gift recipient user 280 is a 35 year old woman. As such, personal assistant 230 may suggest to user 250 to purchase the particular brand of shoes as a gift for second user 280. In another example, the personal assistant 230 may utilize third party gift choices 290 to provide gift suggestions based on user interests. Thus, if the third party gift choices 290 show that 80% of men with interests in video games have Halo 3 videogame on their wish list and that gift recipient user 280 is a man interested in video games, the personal to utilize this information to provide a gift suggestion to user 250 to purchase Halo 3 for gift recipient user 280.
In yet another embodiment, personal assistant 230 may utilize prior purchase history of second user 280. Some online merchants 240 track of users' purchase history 260. This information may be leveraged by a personal assistant 230 to determine what a user has bought and help to determine a gift suggestion for second user 280. For example, if second user 280 has purchased history books in the past, personal assistant 230 may utilize this information and available product information to suggest one or more history books to user 250 as gift suggestions for second user 280.
In one embodiment, an event may be displayed to user 250 for a gift recipient not connected to social network 210 or does not have information in their user profile 220. As such, the purchasing user 250 may enter information about the intended gift recipient. The amount of information can vary and may include things such as the recipient's age, sex, or interests. The personal assistant 230 may utilize the entered information, sales data 285 and/or gift choice data 290 to make a gift suggestion.
In another embodiment, the personal assistant 230 may also suggest items for a user 250 to buy for themselves. The personal assistant 230 may use data from the user's profile 205 to make purchasing suggestions. For example, the personal assistant 230 may use data from the user's profile 205 and data from contacts of the user 250 to provide purchasing suggestions to the end user 250. For example, if five (5) of the social network contacts of the user 250 have purchased the video game HALO 3, personal assistant 230 may display a message to user 250 stating that “5 of your friends now have Halo 3” in the user's social network account. User 250 may be motivated to by the suggested item in order to play the video game online with the social network contacts of the user 250.
At step 410, the user's calendar and/or important dates contained in the user's social network 220 account are accessed. At step 420, it is determined whether there are any upcoming events for the user. For example, it may be determined whether there are any birthdays or anniversaries for friends and family members of the user. If there are not any upcoming events, the process ends at step 425. If there are upcoming events at step 420, it is determined whether the event may include gifts for a recipient. For example, an upcoming business meeting on the user's calendar may not include a gift but the birthday of the user's spouse may include gifts.
If at step 420 it is determined that the event does not require gifts, at step 435 an event reminder may be displayed to the user. If the event is gift appropriate at step 430, it is determined whether the recipient participates in a social network at step 440. For example, it may be determined whether the recipient associated with the event (e.g., birthday, anniversary, baby shower, wedding, wedding shower, etc.) has an account with a social network 210. If the recipient is not connected with a social network 210, the information that the user has provided is used about the recipient is used to determine a gift suggestion at step 445 and the event reminder and the gift suggestion is displayed at step 470.
If the recipient is a part of or member of a social network 210, personal at step 450 information for the recipient is gathered from his or her user profile 225. The information from the user profile may be a wish list 255 or link to an online wish list for the recipient. In one embodiment, personal data and/or demographic data for the recipient is accessed for the recipient's user profile. In another embodiment, information from the user's profile is utilized to determine the user's prior purchasing history.
At step 460, information from the recipient's user profile is utilized to determine one or more gift suggestions. At step 470, the gift suggestions are displayed to the user. In one embodiment, the gift suggestions may be presented and/or displayed first the recipient for approval before being displayed to the user via the user's social network account. The gift suggestions for the recipient may be presented with an event reminder to the user.
With reference to
At step 530, information from the wish list(s) is used to determine one or more gift suggestions for the recipient. At step 540, the one or more gift suggestions for the recipient are displayed in the social network account of another user.
Referring next to
With reference to
The present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments, which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather that restrictive. Alternative embodiments will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains without departing from its scope.
From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to attain all the ends and objects set forth above, together with other advantages which are obvious and inherent to the system and method. It will be understood that certain features and sub-Page combination are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and sub-combinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims.