WO2009050739A2

WO2009050739A2 - Method and system for facilitating communication between identities over a social network

Info

Publication number: WO2009050739A2
Application number: PCT/IN2008/000685
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ajay Madhok
Original assignee: Amsoft Systems Private Limited
Priority date: 2007-10-19
Filing date: 2008-10-17
Publication date: 2009-04-23
Also published as: WO2009050739A3

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating communication between two identities of a plurality of identities associated with a social network is provided. The method includes receiving a request from a source identity for communicating with one or more destination identities. After the request is received, one or more communication channels are asserted for communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities. Thereafter, communication is initiated between the source identity and the one or more destination identity, based on the asserted communication channels.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN IDENTITIES OVER A SOCIAL NETWORK

The present application claims a priority from a provisional patent application (PPA) filed in India, which was titled 'Method and system to enable secure communication and data sharing on Facebook' . The priority application number for the PPA is 2189/DEL/2007, the priority date is 19^th October, 2007 and the inventor is Aj ay Madhok.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a method and system for facilitating communication between identities in a social network and more specifically to a method and system that manages the channels of communication between identities according to the preferences set by identities involved.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Since the inception of the Internet, it has been a common goal to promote the use of the Internet for communication purposes because of its wide reach and cost effectiveness. There exists multiple ways of communicating through the Internet, such as electronic mail, voice calls through Voice

Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), video conferencing etc., which facilitates a user's interaction with other users in a communication network. Of late, many social networking sites (SNS) have become popular with the Internet users and they provide various means of communication included in their website. The most common feature among these sites is the ability to create and share a personal profile on a profile page. A profile page of a user typically includes a photograph, some basic personal information about the user, the present context of the user, the location of the user, etc. This page is displayed to the user whenever the user logs in to his or her profile on the website. Typically, the user is free to modify his/her personal information on the profile page whenever he/she wishes to. The page may also serve as a default page for other users visiting on the user's profile. In this way, SNSs enable people having common interests and activities to come together and make online communities, upload or stream live videos, and hold discussions in forums. They also provide a variety of ways for users to interact with other users by means of e-mail and instant messaging services, etc.

While these sites provide a good way of communicating with peers in the communication network, the security and privacy of a user still remains a matter of concern among the users of these sites. Also, while facilitating communication between its users, these sites do not take into account their user's preference, and perhaps their context, location, etc.

In light of the above, there is a need for a method and system for enabling users of a social networking site to communicate amongst each other, while maintaining the privacy of the users. Also, the method and system should determine the preferences of the users, before a communication session is initiated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The preferred embodiments of the invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings provided to illustrate and not to limit the invention, wherein like designations denote like elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network in which the present invention can be practiced, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for facilitating the communication between two or more identities over a social network, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG.3 is a block diagram illustrating a communicator, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG.4 is an instance of an interface for modifying preferred communication channels set by a destination identity for receiving communications from a group of identities, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG.5 is an instance of an interface for modifying preferred communication channel based on the context of the destination identity, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG.6 is an instance of an interface for viewing and modifying the attributes of the identities in the contact list of the destination identity, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; FIG.7 is an instance of an interface for filtering out the outgoing and incoming communication requests of the destination identity, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG.8 is an instance of an interface for displaying the communications of the destination identity with other identities in the contact list of the source identity, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG.9 is a block diagram illustrating a sample implementation of the present invention, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for facilitating communication between real world identities over a social network. The method includes receiving a request from a source identity for communicating with one or more destination identities. The request can be made through a web interface like via a social networking website. The destination identities may define a set of rules for communicating with other identities over the social network, for example, a destination identity may want to communicate with the source identity only through a mobile phone. Similarly, the source identity may also define a preferred communication channel for communicating with the destination identity. On receiving the request from the source identity for communicating with the one or more destination identities, one or more communication channels are asserted for communication between the source identity and the destination identities based on relationships allocated by either / both identities, the context of the identities and the relevant micro-social network for a particular space -time for the identities. Thereafter, communication is initiated between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, based on the asserted communication channels.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a system for facilitating communication between identities over a social network is provided. The system includes a receiver for receiving a request from a source identity for communicating with one or more destination identities. Further, the system includes a processor for asserting one or more communication channels for communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, and for initiating communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities over the social network based on the asserted communication channels. On receiving a request from the source identity for communicating with the destination identities, the processor determines the preferred communication channels for both the source and destination identities for communicating with each other. The processor then initiates a communication between the source and the destination identity on their preferred communication channels.

An objective of the present invention is to provide means for maintaining the privacy of an identity in a social network by restricting other identities in the network to communicate with the identity only through the communication channel set by the identity. An identity may define communication channels through which the identity wishes to communicate with other identities in the network. The identity then receives a communication request only through the defined channel.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be clear that the invention is not limited to these embodiments only. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in the claims.

The present invention is a method and system for facilitating communication between identities in the network. The present invention provides an interface between a source identity and one or more destination identities for facilitating communication between them. The destination identities are enabled to define its rules based on which they are contacted for communication with the source identity. In a similar way, the source identity can define the communication channels through which he/she wishes to communicate with the destination identities. The invention manages the channels of communication between the identities according to the preferences set by the identities, without exposing the identifiers identifying the absolute address of the end points, thus maintaining the privacy of the identity. For example, if a source identity defines the preferred communication channel for communicating with the destination identity as a mobile phone, and the destination identity also defines mobile phone as the preferred communication channel for communication with the source identity, then a conference call is set up between the source identity and the destination identity. The mobile phone numbers of the source identity and the destination identity are not shown to either of the identities, thus maintaining the privacy of the identities. FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network 102 in which the present invention can be practiced, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The figure shows network 102 connected to a plurality of identities 104, 106, 108 and 110 that are capable of communicating with each other by means of sending and receiving data through network 102.

Network 102 can be, for example, a social network which can be accessed through a social networking website and a mediary service operating on top of the social networking website. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the network 102 can also be a mobile phone or public switched telephone network (PSTN) network or mobile network operator

(MNO) network.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the identities 104, 106, 108 and 110 are using electronic devices capable of storing and processing data to access the social networking website and are communicating with each other via the social networking website.

Examples of the electronic devices can be, but are not limited to, mobile phones, computers, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc.

In an exemplary scenario, when identity 104 wishes to communicate with identity 106, identity 104 either sends a request to the meta mediary service sitting on top of a social networking website or consults a preprocessed and network synchronized, on device cache (not requiring a network hop) to initiate a communication between identity 104 and 106. In response to receiving the request, the social networking website (or on- device cache) checks the contract rules set by identity 106 for communicating with identity 104 or the groups that identity 104 belongs to, and/or inspects the micro social network of identity 104 at that particular point in time and for identity 106's location. The inspection of micro social network is done to ascertain whether the group is relevant to identity 104 and 106, for their present context, location, etc.

Based on either the contact rules defined by identity 106 for identity 104 (or the group identity 104 is in) or the analysis of the communication patterns of identity 106 leading to the inferred micro social network relevant to identity 106 in that particular space and time, a preferred channel of communication is asserted for contacting identity 106. The meta mediary service then checks the preferred channel for communication that identity 104 has set for communicating with identity 106, and contacts identity 104 using that channel. In this way, identity 104 and identity 106 communicate with each using their preferred channels for communication. The entire process of setting communication channels and initiating communication via the set communication channels has been explained in detail in the description of figures below.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for facilitating the communication between two or more identities over a social network, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. At step 202, a request is received from a source identity to communicate with one or more destination identities. The request is made through a web based interface. The web interface can be, for example, a social networking service like a social networking website, an Instant Messenger (IM) client such as gtalk^®

As an exemplary scenario, the source identity may visit the profile page of a destination identity on a social networking website, like Facebook^®, and click on a dedicated link for sending a request to communicate with the destination identity through the social networking website. As another exemplary scenario, the source identity may send a request to perform various functions such as change its context or communicate with destination identities through Jabber^®/XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) supporting IM client such as gtalk . The source identity communicates with the mediary service by sending a message with a keyword (such as "BUZZ", "CONTEXT") followed by the details such as contact name or context information to the XMPP listener. The XMPP listener relays the details further in order to perform the functions like modifying data on the server and synchronizing the copies of the data.

At step 204, relevant micro social networks and one or more communication channels for communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities are asserted. The communication channels are asserted based on a relationship between the source identity and one or more destination identities, a context of one or more destination identities and the social distance between the source identity and the one or more destination identities within the micro social network(s). Based on these factors, a preferred channel of communication for communicating with the source identity and the preferred, available and compatible channels of communication for communicating with each of the destination identities are determined. The three factors mentioned above become better understood with the explanation and examples provided below.

The context of an identity defines a 'state' in which the identity is currently in, a 'location' in which the identity currently is, a 'time' and 'presence' that marks the availability of the identity on various associated channels. For example, the identity's state may be busy, working, at home, on a vacation etc, an identity's location could be New Delhi, London, New York etc., its presence could be available on mobile, not online or IM etc. With respect to context, the identity may set that he is not willing to receive any calls when he is on vacation. In this case, the asserted communication channel can be any channel other than voice call. For example, the identity can set that he wants to receive only text messages when he is on vacation. In this case, text message is asserted as a communication channel for communicating the said identity.

The relationship of an identity with another identity can be defined either as friend, family, colleague, etc. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the identity defines the relationship that he/she shares with another identity on the social networking website. In another embodiment, the relationships are inferred from the micro social network such as a friend of a friend, a second degree friend in the same location having the same interests. The identity may also set the preferred communication channels that he/she wishes to communicate with identities sharing a common relationship. For example, an identity can set that he/she wishes to communicate with his/her 'friends' through mobile phone only. In this case, the asserted communication channel may be mobile phone. Further, the identity may also combine the 'context' and 'relationship' to set the preferred communication channel. For example, an identity can set that whenever he/she is busy and a friend tries to contact him/her, the preferred communication channel should be text message.

Social distance between two or more identities is based on time space parameters of at least one of the source identity and the one or more destination identities. The time space parameters include at least one of a recency and frequency of contact between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, one or more previous communication channels used for communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, the locations of the source identity and the one or more destination identities and the time-zones of the source identity and the one or more destination identities. As an example, social distance between two identities may vary when an identity moves to a different time-zone, for example, from New Delhi to New York.

With respect to social distance, the preferred channel of communication between two identities may be modified dynamically based on the social distance between the two identities. For example, Tom is in relationship with Fred as a friend, both Tom and Fred are currently residing in India and the context of Tom is 'busy' and of Fred is 'online'. Further, let us assume that Fred has defined mobile phone as its preferred channel of communication with Tom when the context of Fred is 'online' and Tom has defined mobile phone as its preferred channel of communication with

Fred when the context of Tom is 'Busy'. If Tom wishes to communicate with Fred, a voice call will be setup between Tom and Fred on their respective mobile phones. Now, Fred moves to a different time-zone say London, and if Tom wishes to communicate with Fred now, a voice call will be setup between Tom and Fred on their respective mobile phones. If

Fred doesn't want to receive a voice call from Tom while he is in London and rejects the voice call, the preferred channel of communication set by Fred for communicating with Tom may be modified dynamically so that Fred does not receive a call on his mobile from Tom while he is in London.

Also, based on the behavior of the destination identity for communication initiated by the source identity for a particular time-space, the applicable contracts or rules for communication might get updated automatically. The contracts then get restored, as the previous time-space for the destination identity is restored to its previous state. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the source identity may also receive suggestions for relationship creation based on its response to a certain set of identities for a particular time-space. Continuing with the earlier example, when Fred moves to London and does not accept communication request on his mobile from Tom, Linda and Kate but accept a communication from Stacy, for a particular context, say "Meeting" then a suggestion is sent to Tom to group these identities together to form a relationship, the group having a situational contract (contract formed due to circumstantial and behavioral inferences drawn from the identity for a particular time space and an appropriate micro social network). Similarly, if Tom rejects all his calls for a fixed time, say morning 7:00 to 8:00 AM, while his description is "jogging", a new context is automatically inferred or suggested to Tom, with an inferred situational contract.

For one embodiment of the invention, the preferred communication channel set by an identity for communicating with other identities may be modified by the identity. In particular, the said identities are associated with a contact list of the identity on a social network, like a social networking website. For example, if a source identity has a list of identities he/she knows on the social networking website and he/she has set mobile phone as a preferred channel of communication for communicating with a destination identity from the list of identities, the source identity may reset the preferred channel of communication with the destination identity to a landline phone, a VOIP phone, SMS or an e-mail at a later point of time. Moreover, a preferred channel can be set and modified for a single identity or a group of identities. For example, if a source identity has a number of identities in its network, the source identity may define a preferred communication channel for each identity or may define a common preferred communication channel for a group of identities. The groups of identities for the source identity may be defined based on the relationship of the source identity with other identities. For example, a group named "outer circle" may have those identities which are only known to the source identity and do not share any specific relationship with the source identity. Moreover the group to which an identity belongs may be modified when the relationship of the identity changes with the source identity. For example, an identity can be moved from group "outer circle" to a group named "inner circle" when the identity comes in close relationship with the source identity.

For another embodiment of the invention, the relationship of an identity with one or more identities can be modified by the identity. As explained, identities may be grouped based on their relationship with the source identity. The source identity may define a relationship with one or more identities and based on the relationship with the source identity, an identity may be assigned a group. The relationship of the source identity with one or more identity may be modified by the source identity using a web interface, like the social networking website or an IM.

For yet another embodiment of the invention, an identity can view and modify attributes related to the identity. Each identity in the network has certain attributes like context of the identity, a context description, a context image, a location of the identity, a location description, etc. that are related to him/her. These attributes are visible to other identities in the network and give an idea of the environment around the identity. For example, the context of a source identity may be set as "At Home" and the context description may be set as "watching movie", as these attributes are visible to other identities, the other identities may know that the source identity is at home and is watching a movie. Further these attributes can be modified by the identity and he/she may put restraints on who sees the, like friend, friend of a friend, everyone etc.

The context of the identity may be modified by the identity using either of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a Voice Over Internet Protocol phone, an Instant Messenger, an electronic mail, a scheduler application or the social networking website. For example, the context of the identity can be modified by calling on a dedicated phone number and following the voice instructions (IVR, Interactive Voice Response) or by sending an Short Message Service (SMS) to a dedicated phone number to change the context. The phone number is provided to each identity on the social network. When an identity calls on the phone number, a voice message

(IVR) is played asking the identity to say the desired context, and after the identity says the desired context, the context gets modified on the social network (through voice recognition / manual entry). Another way of modifying context is to send an SMS to a dedicate server number. The server then modifies the context of the identity based on the SMS received from the identity.

At step 206, communication is initiated between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, based on the asserted communication channels. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, initiating a communication refers to connecting the source identity and the one or more destination identities through one or more communication channels supporting voice communication, when the asserted communication channels are one of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a Voice Over Internet Protocol phone and an Instant Messenger Talk.

For example, if the asserted communication channel for Tom to communicate with Fred is mobile phone and the asserted communication channel for Fred to receive the communication request from Tom is also mobile phone, then a conference call is set up between Tom and Fred, using their mobile numbers. It should be noted that neither of the identity involved in the call gets to know the mobile number of the other identity. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a mediary service may set up a cal between the two identities and the number displayed on each of the identity's mobile phone is corresponding to the mediary service's number.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, initiating a communication between the source identity and one or more destination identities also refers to delivering a text message input by the source identity to the one or more destination identities through one or more communication channels supporting text message communication when the asserted communication channels are one of a Short Messaging Service (SMS) and an Instant Messenger Text.

For example, if Fred wants to receive text messages from Tom and Tom wants to use his mobile phone to communicate with Fred, then an SMS may be sent from Tom to Fred. In this case, when Tom sends a request to communicate with Fred over a mobile phone, a message may be delivered to Tom stating that Fred wants to receive an SMS from you. In this case, Tom would type the SMS and a mediary service will deliver the message to Fred.

In accordance with yet another embodiment of the invention, initiating a communication between the source identity and one or more destination identities also refers to delivering a post message input by the source identity to the one or more destination identities through the communication channels supporting post message communication. These communication channels can be, for example, electronic mail (e mail), a

Voice Mail, a message posted to a web property, like social networking website, and a message posted on a blog.

Apart from the steps mentioned above, the method for facilitating communication between identities also includes storing one or more communication sessions of an identity with one or more identities associated with the contact list of the identity. For example, a communication session between the source identity and the one or more destination identities is stored, so that it may be recalled when required. An identity may access the stored communication through an interface, like a web interface. A number of operations may be performed on the stored communication sessions. These operations include modifying privacy control of the stored communication sessions, modifying usage control and expiry date of the communication sessions, allowing selected identities to access the stored communication sessions, sharing and viewing the stored communication sessions. An identity may modify the privacy control for its stored communication sessions, i.e. an identity may define for what purposes will the communication sessions are used and for what purposes will it not be used. An example to illustrate this is if the communication session is available only for an identity, can it be shared with common peers in the address book of the identity, and can it be shared with identity's peer network, or is publicly available. An identity may also modify the usage control, i.e. how the stored communication will be redistributed, or not redistributed. An example to illustrate this is the option to save the data element(s), view or play it V number of times. An identity may also modify the expiry of the stored communication sessions, i.e. what is the ability to recall or invalidate the sessions that were shared earlier.

The present invention also provides a method for synchronizing a data associated with an identity on the social network, when the identity modifies the data. The said data may have multiple copies being displayed at various parts of the social networking website. These copies share a common source and are synchronized whenever a modification happens. For example, an image of an identity may be displayed at various pages of a website, the image content is copied from source and is displayed at the desired locations. However when the identity modifies the source of the image, the copy of the image at all the desired locations may be modified to maintain consistent data across the website.

For an embodiment of the invention, the present invention also includes inputting and forwarding intent of a call, when a call is set up between identities. In this case, the source identity needs to input the intent of a conversation before its call is setup with the destination identity. This intent is then shown to the destination identity so that the destination identity is aware of the purpose of the call before it actually talks to the source identity. This case is particularly used when the asserted communication channel is voice call. For example, if source identity wishes to talk to the destination identity about a latest mobile phone, the source identity requests SNS to initiate a communication with the destination identity, a preferred communication channel is asserted for the destination identity for communicating with the source identity and when the asserted communication channel is mobile phone, the source identity is asked to enter the intent of the communication. The source identity ten enters the intent as "Latest Mobile Release" and a call is setup between the source and the destination identity with the intent being shown to the destination identity. The destination identity may then decide to accept or reject the call based on the intent of the call.

FIG.3 is a block diagram illustrating a communicator 302, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Communicator 302 includes a receiver 304, a memory 306, a processor 308, an interface 310 and a controller 312. Receiver 304 receives a request from a source identity to communicate with one or more destination identities. As already mentioned, the source identity may send a request to communicate with one or more destination identities by clicking on a dedicated link on the social networking website.

Processor 308 asserts one or more communication channels for communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities. As already explained in conjunction with Fig. 2, the one or more communication channels are asserted based on a relationship between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, a context of the one or more destination identities and the social distance between the source identity and the one or more destination identities. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the social distance between the source identity and the one or more destination identities is based on the time space parameters of the source identity or the destination identity. The time space parameters can be, for example, a recency or frequency of contact between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, one or more previous communication channels used for communication between the source identity and destination identities, the location of the source or the destination identities and their time zones.

Once the communication channels are asserted for communication between the source identity and the destination identities, processor 308 initiates communication between the source identity and the destination identities, based on the asserted communication channels. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, processor 308 initiates the communication between the source identity and the destination identity by connecting them through the communication channels supporting voice communication. This case is valid when the asserted communication channel for both the source identity and the destination identity is voice call. As already mentioned, examples of communication channels supporting voice communication can be, but not limited to, mobile phone, landline phone, VOIP and IM talk.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, processor 308 initiates the communication between the source identity and the destination identity by delivering a text message input by the source identity to the destination identities through communication channels supporting text message. This case is valid when the asserted communication channel is text messaging. Examples of communication channels supporting text messaging can be, but not limited to, SMS, IM text, etc. In accordance with yet another embodiment of the invention, processor 308 initiates the communication between the source identity and the destination identity by delivering a post message input by the source identity to the destination identities through communication channels supporting text message. This case is valid when the asserted communication channel is post messaging. Examples of communication channels supporting post messaging can be, but not limited to, email, voice mail, message posted to a web property, message posted on a blog, etc.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, if the asserted communication channel for communication between the source identity and the destination identities is voice call, then the source identity is asked to provide intent of the call. In this case, before processor 308 initiates the call, receiver 304 receives the intent of the call from the source identity before the call is established. Processor 308 then forwards the intent of the call to the destination identities when the call is initiated between the source identity and the destination identities.

Apart from the functions mentioned above, processor 308 also synchronizes a copy of a data associated with an identity when the identity modifies the data. The data can be, for example, the image of the identity on the social networking website. Synchronizing data has already been explained in Fig. 2.

As already mentioned, communicator 302 also includes an interface 310.

Interface 310 enables an identity to modify pre-defined communication channels set by the identity to communicate with other identities on its contact list on the social network. Interface 310 also enables the identity to modify the relationship of the identity with the other identities, to modify the context of the identity, the context description, the context image, the location, the location description, the location image, etc. on the social network. In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, the identity modifies the context of the identity through a mobile phone, a landline phone, a VOIP phone, an IM, an email, a scheduler application, like a calendar, or through the social networking website.

Communicator 302 also includes memory 306 and controller 312. Memory 306 stores the communication sessions of an identity with one or more identities associated with the contact list of the identity on the social network. Controller 312 then enables the identity to control the stored communication sessions. The stored communication sessions can be controlled by modifying the privacy control, usage control and expiry date of the stored communication session. Stored communication sessions can also be controlled by allowing selected identities to access the stored communication sessions, sharing or viewing the stored communication sessions.

FIG.4 is an instance of an interface for modifying preferred communication channels set by a destination identity for receiving communications from a group of identities. A 'my channels' tab 402 has a list of channels defined for each group. For example, the group 404, named 'inner circle', has preferred mode defined as 'post a message'. The element 406 is a link to get the html code for a button for requesting the system to initiate a communication between the identity having the button on its profile and the identity that clicks the button. On clicking element

406 a pop-up window opens displaying the html code for the button, the identity may then copy the code and paste it on any of its website, blog or email signature. A button will appear on the identity's website, blog or signature, based on the pasted html code. Communication with the source identity is setup on clicking the button at all such places. The element 408 shows a picture representation of the channel of communication. The element 410 is a pull-down menu for selecting the preferred communication channel. The destination identity may select one of the pull-down values to select its communication channel for a group of identities. The text box 412 shows the channel values for each channel defined for each of the group of identities. For example, for group named 'inner circle', the preferred channel is defined as 'post a message' and the corresponding text box contains an e-mail id to which the message is to be posted. Another example is of the group named 'friends', the preferred channel defined for this group is 'work phone' and the corresponding text box contains the work phone number of the source identity. Hence if an identity from the group 'friends' wishes to communicate with the destination identity, the destination identity will receive a communication request at the work phone number defined in the text box. The element 414 is a pull-down for selecting a ring-tone to be played when the destination identity receives a communication request. The element 416 is a link for 'advanced settings' that enables the destination identity to customize these settings for a particular identity for a particular context.

FIG.5 is an instance of an interface for modifying preferred communication channel based on the context of the destination identity. The element 502 is a pull-down menu having possible contexts of the destination identity. On selecting a value for the context from the pulldown menu, the destination identity will be displayed the list of preferred communication channels defined for each group corresponding to the selected value of context. For example, if an identity from the group 'friends' wishes to communicate with the destination identity, the context of the destination identity being 'busy', the destination identity will receive a communication request on the work phone.

FIG.6 is an instance of an interface for viewing and modifying the attributes of the identities in the contact list of the destination identity. On selecting the 'my address book' tab as shown in the figure, a list of identities in the contact list of the destination identity is displayed. The element 602 shows group tabs, the tab named 'All' displays all the identities in the contact list of the destination identity. The element 604 shows the current state image of the identity corresponding to the context of the identity. The element 606 is the image of an identity in the contact list of the destination identity. The element 608 is the group image of the group to which the particular identity belongs. The element 610 corresponds to the number of communication requests sent to an identity.

The element 612 corresponds to the number of communication requests received from an identity. The element 614 corresponds to the number of outstanding unread communication requests. The element 616 is to subscribe for status updates of an identity. For example, if the destination identity subscribes for status updates of an identity, then the destination identity will receive an update about the status of the identity whenever the identity modifies its status. To unsubscribe for status updates, element 618 is provided. The destination identity will be unsubscribed from status updates on an identity by clicking on element 618.

FIG.7 is an instance of an interface for filtering out the outgoing and incoming communication requests of the destination identity. On selecting the outgoing communication requests element 610, the stored outgoing communications are displayed to the identity. The identity may recall any of the stored communications. The element 702 is a text communication between an identity and the destination identity, and the element 704 is a recorded voice data exchanged between an identity and the destination identity. When an identity communicates with another identity, the system automatically saves the data exchanged between the two identities. The element 706 is a button for requesting the system to initiate a communication between two identities. For example, if the said destination identity wishes to communicate with another identity, the destination identity would click the button 706 corresponding to the identity. The element 708 is a button to delete a stored communication. The identity can delete a stored communication by clicking on the button 708 corresponding to the stored communication.

FIG.8 is an instance of an interface for displaying the communications of the destination identity with other identities in the contact list of the source identity. The element 802 is a list of tabs for recalling the incoming, outgoing, missed or all communications. The identity may select one of these tabs to view the corresponding communications. The element 804 is a button to block/unblock an identity from communicating with the source identity. The destination identity may click on this button to block/unblock depending on its own wish to allow an identity to communicate with the source identity or to restrict an identity from communicating with the destination identity.

Element 902 is a Web client connected to an element 904, which is a third (3^RD) Party Social Network, like Friendster^®, Linked In^®, Bebo^®, Orkut^®, Facebook^®. Element 902 allows an identity to manage his/her network address book, context, profile, etc on the element 904. Element 902 also allows identities to initiate an outbound communication with other identities. The 3^rd Party Social Network, i.e. element 904, is connected to an element 906 that corresponds to applications. Element 908, Application Services, provide services to the applications to facilitate their operation. Element 910 is a Social Network Model Builder (SNMB). As identities interact with each other through the present invention, the SNMB processes the friends and profile feeds of the identities and enriches an

Equals Social Graph (ESG) 912 asynchronously. The description of ESG 912 is provided later in the description of this figure.

Since the feeds from different containers, like Facebook , Orkut , etc. have different representations, the SNMB, i.e. element 910, harmonizes them before processing. In conjunction with an Inference engine 914, it also detects identity collusions and harmonizes them. The ESG 912 is composed of identities that have been aggregated from multiple containers/devices (Facebook , Orkut , MySpace , mobile iphones etc.). The Inference engine 914 works on the ESG 912 to detect identities that represent the same real world people based on their communication identifiers, profile, and sub-graph of relationships of the identities. Depending on the confidence of the results, it either makes assertions or suggestions about the likeliness of identities being the same. The ESG also makes inferences about the micro social network of identities in different temporal and spatial contexts by analyzing the communication behavior of the communicating identities.

The element 916, communication services, is a set of services that manages the identities' outbound and inbound communication. This encapsulates the talk, text and post gateways and the interfaces to these gateways. Each identity has a unified inbox and outbox through which all communications are routed. All communication specific application like voice, IM adapters are also contained in this service. The resolutions service 918 identifies who the identity is, based on the identity's concrete identifier. It resolves the identities and its context, which is then available to the applications of the present invention for further processing. The resolution service 918 also discovers the physical cluster where the identity agent resides and returns a handle to this identity to the invoker. The Storage services 920 provide means for storing and managing identity data (relations, context, media etc.). The Persistence Services 922 provides an abstract interface to the various persistent services that are used in the backend to store and retrieve data. It abstracts the actual storage mechanism from the identities. The data may be persisted to the cache, database, storage cloud like S3^®, Google^® BigTable^®, etc. The physical storage can be swapped without impacting any of the identities. Cache 924 can be a Read Through Cache or a Write Through Cache. AU the data is read through a Read Through Cache. The relevant identity data is preloaded in the cache 924 for ready consumption. As soon as the data changes, the cached data is evicted and asynchronously loaded afresh. All reads and writes are done off the Write Through Cache. The database 926 is asynchronously updated from the data in the cache 924. Cache misses are supported to get the data from the database 926, which is not in the cache 924. The Messaging Bus 928 serves as an interface between the database

926 and the ESG 912. ESG 912 is a global unified social graph of people and their relationships. This graph represents unified user identities as nodes and relationships as links (edges). Each unified identity represents all the social network accounts, email accounts, phone accounts etc of a person. The ESG 912 is created as identities use the applications provided for the present invention, without explicit identity action. The ESG 912 exposes Social Graph application programming interface (API's) 930 for applications of the present invention, that allows them to retrieve and store data associated with the unified identities and efficiently perform graph operations such as determining social distance, finding common friends, and navigating through individual sub-graphs and cliques. The social graph API's 930 provide an entry point into the ESG 912. This accesses the in-memory distributed graph to perform graph traversal and graph based computations.

The element 932 is the Socio-Semantic Graph (SSG). The nodes of this graph are arbitrary Resource Description Framework (RX)F) subjects/objects identified by Uniform Resource Identifier (URIs). The edges of this graph are RDF predicates for relationships defined by some

Web Ontology Language (OWL). The SSG 932 supports sophisticated semantic reasoning and learning. It supports people search based on the meaning of search keywords, probabilistic inferences about people and their relationships, and other operations. The ESG 912 is overlaid on top of the SSG 932, and the two are semantically linked by using URI's, based on I-numbers¹. I-numbers are a type of Internet identifiers which are designed to solve the problem of how any resource can have a persistent identity that never changes, even when the resource moves or changes its human-friendly name. For example, if a Web page has an I-number, and links to that page use the I-number, then those links will not break even if the page is renamed, -the website containing the page is complete reorganized, or the page is moved to another website. The element 934, WWW, depicts the vast network connecting large number of identities across the world, it is better known as the Internet.

The Communication Network Extractor element 936 asynchronously mines and analyzes the various communication transactions that the identities are involved in. It makes various inferences about the situated contracts, identity merges etc. and feeds them into the Social graph to process. The Remote API 938 is the Remote Application Program Interface. Remote API 938 communicates requests from a desktop computer application to invoke a function and returns the results of that function. Remote API 938 is also connected to a remote client 940.

Various embodiments of the present invention provide many advantages. The present invention provides the privacy of identities communicating with each other. Identities can set preferences about the communication channels they want to use, based on their relationship, context, etc, and the communication is initiated by taking into account an identity's preferences.

The system, as described in the present invention, or any of its components, may be embodied in the form of a computer system. Typical examples of a computer system include a general-purpose computer, a programmed microprocessor, a micro-controller, a peripheral integrated circuit element, and other devices or arrangements of devices that are capable of implementing the steps constituting the method of the present invention. The computer system may comprise a computer, an input device, and a display unit. The computer comprises a microprocessor, which is connected to a communication bus. The computer also includes a memory, which may include Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM). Further, the computer system comprises a storage device, which can be a hard disk drive or a removable storage drive such as a floppy disk drive, an optical disk drive, and the like. Furthermore, the storage device can be other similar means for loading computer programs or other instructions on the computer system.

To process input data, the computer system executes a set of instructions that are stored in one or more storage elements. The storage elements may also hold data or other information, as desired, and may be an information source or physical memory element present in the processing machine.

The set of instructions may include various commands that instruct the processing machine to perform specific tasks such as the steps constituting the method of the present invention. The set of instructions may be in the form of a software program. The software may be in various forms such as system or application software. The software may also be in the form of a collection of separate programs, a program module with a larger program, or a portion of a program module. Moreover, the software may include modular programming in the form of object-oriented programming. Processing of input data by the processing machine may be in response to user commands, to the results of previous processing, or to a request made by another processing machine.

Claims

WE CLAIM :

1. A method for facilitating communication between identities over a social network, the method comprising: receiving a request from a source identity to communicate with one or more destination identities; asserting one or more communication channels for communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities; and initiating communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities based on the asserted communication channels.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more communication channels are asserted based on at least one of: a relationship between the source identity and the one or more destination identities; a context of the one or more destination identities; and a social distance between the source identity and the one or more destination identities.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the social distance between the source identity and the one or more destination identities is based on time space parameters of at least one of the source identity and the one or more destination identities.

4. The method in claim 3, wherein the time space parameters comprises at least one of a recency and frequency of contact between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, one or more previous communication channels used for communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, a location of the source identity and the one or more destination identities and a time-zone of the source identity and the one or more destination identities.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein initiating communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities comprises connecting at least one of the source identity and the one or more destination identities through the one or more communication channels supporting voice communication.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the one or more communication channels supporting voice communication comprises at least one of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a Voice Over Internet Protocol phone and an Instant Messenger Talk.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein initiating communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities comprises delivering a text message input by the source identity to the one or more destination identities through the one or more communication channels supporting text message communication.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the one or more communication channels supporting text message communication comprises at least one of a Short Messaging Service (SMS) and an Instant Messenger Text.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein initiating communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities comprises delivering a post message input by the source identity to the one or more destination identities through the one or more communication channels supporting post message communication.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the one or more communication channels supporting post message communication comprises at least one of an electronic mail (e mail), a Voice Mail, a message posted to a web property and a message posted on a blog.

11. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising enabling an identity to modify one or more pre-defined communication channels set by the identity to communicate with one or more identities, wherein the one or more identities are associated with a contact list of the identity on the social network.

12. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising enabling an identity to modify a relationship of the identity with one or more identities, wherein the one or more identities are associated with a contact list of the identity on the social network.

13. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising enabling an identity to modify at least one of a context of the identity, a context description, a context image, a location of the identity, a location description and a location image, time-zone on the social network.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the identity modifies the context of the identity on the social network through at least one of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a Voice Over Internet Protocol phone, an Instant Messenger, an electronic mail, a scheduler application and the social network.

15. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising storing one or more communication sessions of an identity with one or more identities associated with a contact list of the identity.

16. The method as recited in claim 15 further comprising enabling the identity to control the stored communication sessions, wherein controlling the stored communication sessions comprises at least one of: modifying a privacy control of the stored communication sessions; modifying a usage control of the stored communication sessions; modifying an expiry date of the stored communication sessions; \ allowing selected identities to access the stored communication sessions; sharing the stored communication sessions; and viewing the stored communication sessions.

17. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising synchronizing a copy of a data associated with an identity on the social network when the identity modifies the data.

18. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising receiving an intent of communication from the source identity before the communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities is initiated.

19. The method as recited in claim 18 further comprising forwarding the intent of communication to the one or more destination identities when the communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities is initiated.

20. A system for facilitating communication between identities over a social network, the system comprising: a receiver configured to receive a request from a source identity to communicate with one or more destination identities; and a processor configured to: assert one or more communication channels for communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities; and initiate communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities based on the asserted communication channels.

21. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more communication channels are asserted based on at least one of: a relationship between the source identity and the one or more destination identities; a context of the one or more destination identities; and a social distance between the source identity and the one or more destination identities.

22. The system as recited in claim 21, wherein the social distance between the source identity and the one or more destination identities is based on a time space parameters of at least one of the source identity and the one or more destination identities.

23. The system in claim 22, wherein the time space parameters comprises at least one of a recency and frequency of contact between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, one or more previous communication channels used for communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities, a location of the source identity and the one or more destination identities and a time-zone of the source identity and the one or more destination identities.

24. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the processor initiates a communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities by connecting at least one of the source identity and the one or more destination identities through the one or more communication channels supporting voice communication.

25. The system as recited in claim 24, wherein the one or more communication channels comprise at least one of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a Voice Over Internet Protocol phone and an Instant Messenger Talk.

26. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the processor initiates a communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities by delivering a text message input by the source identity to the one or more destination identities through the one or more communication channels supporting text message communication.

27. The system as recited in claim 26, wherein the one or more communication channels comprise at least one of a Short Messaging Service (SMS) and an Instant Messenger Text.

28. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the processor initiates communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities by delivering a post message input by the source identity to the one or more destination identities through the one or more communication channels supporting post message communication.

29. The system as recited in claim 28, wherein the one or more communication channels supporting post message communication comprises at least one of an electronic mail (e mail), a Voice Mail, a message posted to a web property and a message posted on a blog.

30. The system as recited in claim 20 further comprising an interface configured to: enable an identity to modify one or more pre- defined communication channels set by the identity to communicate with one or more identities, wherein the one or more identities are associated with a contact list of the identity on the social network; enable the identity to modify a relationship of the άdentity with the one or more identities; and enable the identity to modify at least one of a context of the identity, a context description, a context image, a location of the identity, a location description and a location image, time zone on the social network.

31. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the identity modifies the context of the identity on the social network through at least one of a mobile phone, a landline phone, a Voice Over Internet Protocol phone, an Instant Messenger, an electronic mail, a scheduler application and the social network.

32. The system as recited in claim 20 further comprising a memory for storing one or more communication sessions of an identity with one or more identities associated with a contact list of the identity on the social network.

33. The system as recited in claim 32 further comprising a controller for enabling the identity to control the stored communication ,sessions wherein the identity controls the stored communication sessions by at least one of: modifying a privacy control of the stored communication sessions; modifying a usage control of the stored communication sessions; modifying an expiry date of the stored communication sessions; allowing selected identities to access the stored communication sessions; sharing the stored communication sessions; and viewing the stored communication sessions.

34. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to synchronize a copy of a data associated with an identity on the social network when the identity modifies the data.

35. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive an intent of communication from the source identity before the communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities is initiated.

36. The system as recited in claim 35, wherein the processor is further configured to forward the intent of communication to the one or more destination identities when the communication between the source identity and the one or more destination identities is initiated.