U.S. patent application number 12/584211 was filed with the patent office on 2009-12-31 for peer discovery and connection management based on context sensitive social networks.
Invention is credited to Mic Bowman, Jose P. Puthenkulam.
Application Number | 20090328161 12/584211 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25488169 |
Filed Date | 2009-12-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090328161 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Puthenkulam; Jose P. ; et
al. |
December 31, 2009 |
Peer discovery and connection management based on context sensitive
social networks
Abstract
In a method for automatically filtering communications, a
networking request from an initiating party on an initiating
communication device is received. The networking request pertains
to a request for communication between the initiating communication
device and a recipient communication device of a user over a
communication channel. A determination is made of whether the
communication channel to be used for the communication matches a
communication channel for a previous communication between the
initiating party and the user. It is automatically determined
whether to grant the networking request, based at least in part on
the determination of whether the communication channel for the
communication matches the communication channel for the previous
communication between the initiating party and the user. Other
embodiments are described and claimed.
Inventors: |
Puthenkulam; Jose P.;
(Beaverton, OR) ; Bowman; Mic; (Beaverton,
OR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
INTEL CORPORATION;c/o CPA Global
P.O. BOX 52050
MINNEAPOLIS
MN
55402
US
|
Family ID: |
25488169 |
Appl. No.: |
12/584211 |
Filed: |
September 2, 2009 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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12220732 |
Jul 28, 2008 |
7606860 |
|
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12584211 |
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09948708 |
Sep 10, 2001 |
7454464 |
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12220732 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
726/4 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 65/403 20130101;
H04L 67/14 20130101; G06F 16/285 20190101; H04L 67/1072 20130101;
H04L 67/22 20130101; H04L 69/329 20130101; H04W 8/18 20130101; H04L
67/104 20130101; H04W 76/10 20180201 |
Class at
Publication: |
726/4 |
International
Class: |
H04L 9/32 20060101
H04L009/32 |
Claims
1. A method for responding a networking request, comprising:
receiving, by a communication device representing a user, a
networking request from an initiating party on an initiating
communication device to establish a connection between the
initiating party and the user; identifying the identity of the
initiating party; and responding the network request according to a
dynamic social network model to either grant or deny the networking
request.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 12/220,732, entitled "Peer Discovery And
Connection Management Based On Context Sensitive Social Networks,"
filed Jul. 28, 2008, now pending, which is a continuation of U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 09/948,708, entitled "Peer Discovery
And Connection Management Based On Context Sensitive Social
Networks," filed on Sep. 10, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,454,464.
RESERVATION OF COPYRIGHT
[0002] This patent document contains information subject to
copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the
facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the
patent, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office files
or records but otherwise reserves all copyright rights
whatsoever.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Aspects of the present invention relate to networking. Other
aspects of the present invention relate to network connection
management.
[0004] Ad-hoc networking refers to the concept of multiple
communication devices discovering, connecting, and interacting with
each other when in proximity. An ad-hoc network may be formed using
a scheme of broadcast and response. For example, in an environment
of wireless services, a handheld device may discover other devices
that are in a close range by broadcasting a connection or
networking request through a broadcast address (or a multicast
address). The devices that receive the networking request (or
receiving devices) need to respond to the networking request.
[0005] A response issued from a receiving device may be granting
the networking request or denying the networking request. In the
former case, the receiving device grants the networking request and
agrees to participate in an ad-hoc network. In the latter case, the
receiving device denies the networking request and refuses to
participate in the ad-hoc network.
[0006] In responding to a networking request, it may be annoying
when users receive requests from people they are not acquainted
with. It may even cause distress when a user receives frequent
networking requests. More severely, a flood of incoming networking
requests may disrupt or even disable a receiving device. In this
case, the receiving device may not be able to respond at all.
Another problem associated with this scheme is that it does not
scale well when moderately or dense population is involved.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] The present invention is further described in terms of
exemplary embodiments, which will be described in detail with
reference to the drawings. These embodiments are non-limiting
exemplary embodiments, in which like reference numerals represent
similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings, and
wherein:
[0008] FIG. 1 depicts a mechanism, in which a communication device
responds to a networking request via an automatic networking
response mechanism according to embodiments of the present
invention;
[0009] FIG. 2 depicts the high level internal structure of an
automatic networking response mechanism in relation to a
communication device according to an embodiment of the present
invention;
[0010] FIG. 3 depicts the high level internal structure of a
communication monitoring mechanism that monitors the communication
activities occurred in different exemplary communication channels,
according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0011] FIG. 4 depicts the high level internal structure of a
dynamic social network modeling mechanism according to an
embodiment of the present invention;
[0012] FIG. 5 shows an exemplary construct of a dynamic social
network model;
[0013] FIG. 6 depicts the high level internal structure of a
networking request responding mechanism according to an embodiment
of the present invention;
[0014] FIG. 7 is an exemplary flowchart of a process, in which a
communication device automatically responds a networking request
based on a dynamic social network model, according to embodiments
of the present invention;
[0015] FIG. 8 is an exemplary flowchart of a process, in which a
communication monitoring mechanism monitors communication sessions
and collects useful data, according to an embodiment of the present
invention;
[0016] FIG. 9 is an exemplary flowchart of a process, in which a
dynamic social network modeling mechanism constructs and maintains
a social network model based on monitoring data collected during
communication sessions, according to an embodiment of the present
invention; and
[0017] FIG. 10 is an exemplary flowchart of a process, in which a
networking request responding mechanism determines how to respond a
networking request based on a dynamic social network model,
according to embodiments of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0018] The invention is described below, with reference to detailed
illustrative embodiments. It will be apparent that the invention
can be embodied in a wide variety of forms, some of which may be
quite different from those of the disclosed embodiments.
Consequently, the specific structural and functional details
disclosed herein are merely representative and do not limit the
scope of the invention.
[0019] The processing described below may be performed by a
properly programmed general-purpose computer alone or in connection
with a special purpose computer. Such processing may be performed
by a single platform or by a distributed processing platform. In
addition, such processing and functionality can be implemented in
the form of special purpose hardware or in the form of software
being run by a general-purpose computer. Any data handled in such
processing or created as a result of such processing can be stored
in any memory as is conventional in the art. By way of example,
such data may be stored in a temporary memory, such as in the RAM
of a given computer system or subsystem. In addition, or in the
alternative, such data may be stored in longer-term storage
devices, for example, magnetic disks, rewritable optical disks, and
so on. For purposes of the disclosure herein, a computer-readable
media may comprise any form of data storage mechanism, including
such existing memory technologies as well as hardware or circuit
representations of, such structures and of such data.
[0020] FIG. 1 depicts a mechanism 100, in which a communication
device 120 responds a networking or connection request 105 via an
automatic networking response mechanism 110 according to
embodiments of the present invention. The communication device 120
represents a generic device that is capable of communicating with
another communication device to send and receive signals. For
example, the communication device 120 may be a hand held device
such as a cellular phone or a Personal Data Assistance (PDA). The
communication device 120 also includes any computing device that
possesses communication capability.
[0021] The communication between the communication device 120 and a
different communication device may be initiated by either party and
the one that initiates the communication is the initiating party.
For instance, the communication device 120 may initiate the
communication by sending a networking request to one or more
devices to request to establish network connections (not shown in
FIG. 1). When a different device initiates the communication as an
initiating party, the initiating party sends a networking request
105 to the communication device 120 to start a connection. The
networking request 105 may be characterized as including one or
more data transmissions containing data requesting a connection
expressed according to certain standard.
[0022] In mechanism 100, an automatic networking response mechanism
110 intercepts the networking request 105 and generates a response
135 automatically based on a dynamic social network model. The
response 135 may comprise one or more data transmissions, in
response to the networking request 105 with one or more data
transmissions. A dynamic social network model (discussed in more
detail later) may describe the user's social circle based on the
communication information collected while the user interacts with
various contacts. For example, if a user has frequent email
exchanges with a particular contact, the high frequency of the
interaction may be recorded and used to infer that the user is
close to the contact (either professionally or personally). When
such characterization for each contact is available, it may be used
to determine whether to accept a particular networking request from
a contact. For instance, the closer the user is to a contact, the
more likely a networking request from the contact is to be
accepted.
[0023] A social network model may be established with respect to a
user, characterizing the social network of the user. It may also be
established for an entity capable of communications such as a
web-based software robot or an intelligent communication device.
When there are multiple users on a single communication device 120,
the social network of each user may be modeled and applied
separately. In this case, the automatic networking response
mechanism 110 may employ an appropriate social network model for
each user according to, for example, the login name of a user and
make a responding decision based on the current user's social
network model. It is also possible to model the social network of a
group of users such as a family or a working team. In this case,
the corresponding social network model represents a single entity
representing the group.
[0024] FIG. 2 depicts the high level internal structure of the
automatic networking response mechanism 110 in relation to the
communication device 120 according to an embodiment of the present
invention. The automatic networking response mechanism 110
comprises a communication monitoring mechanism 220, a dynamic
social network modeling mechanism 230 that builds a dynamic model
240 to characterize a user's social network based on the monitoring
data collected by the communication monitoring mechanism 220, and a
networking request responding mechanism 250 that makes a responding
decision based on the social network model 240.
[0025] Communications between two communication devices may occur
at different layers. Such communication layers may include physical
layer, communication stack layer, and application layer. The
communication activities at different layers may be governed based
on different criteria. For example, even though a networking
request, issued from an initiating communication device, may be
denied at application layer by a receiving device, two devices may
still communicate at physical layer (e.g., hand-shake so that the
two devices are aware of the existence of each other). Different
responding mechanisms may be required for different layers. The
automatic networking response mechanism 110, depicted in FIG. 2, is
responsible to respond a networking request at application
layer.
[0026] The communication monitoring mechanism 220 monitors the
communication activities between the communication device 120 and
other devices. Communication activities may be conducted via
different communication channels 210 such as email 210a, chat room
210b, event scheduling via calendar 210c, and file transport
protocol (FTP) 210d. Communication activities may also include (not
shown in FIG. 2) instant messaging, website interactions based on
HTTP, or database based interactions using transactions.
[0027] The communication monitoring mechanism 220 may collect
useful information associated with different aspects of the user's
communication. It may monitor all communication activities,
including internal initiated communications (e.g., sending out
emails) and external party initiated communications (e.g., an
instant messaging session initiated by a party on a different
device). For example, it may observe and gather the information
about the identity of the user's communicating party (that
communicates with the user), the time and date of each
communication session, the length in time of each communication
session, or the frequency of the communication with the same
party.
[0028] The communication monitoring mechanism 220 collects
information with respect to a user. That is, each logic pool of
data collected corresponds to a single user. When multiple users
are involved, the communication monitoring mechanism 220 may create
multiple pools of monitoring data, each of which may be created
according to, for example, the login name of the corresponding
user. Within each pool of such collected data may contain a
plurality of monitored communication sessions. Since in each
session, the user may communicate with a single contact, the
corresponding pool of information, collected during the session,
may be labeled with the identity of the contact. The collected
information may include the starting and ending time of each
session, the date, the communication channel used (e.g., email,
chat, etc.), the location of the user during the session, and the
statistics such as up-to-date frequency of the communication
between the user and the contact.
[0029] The information collected through the communication
monitoring mechanism 220 can be selectively accessed by the dynamic
social network modeling mechanism 230 and used to establish a
user's social network model 240. For example, the dynamic social
network modeling mechanism 230 may select only the information
about communications that are initiated by an external device. Such
information may include the time and date the networking request is
made, the response (e.g., accepted or denied) from the user, and
the data associated with the communication session (e.g., how long
it lasted on what communication media).
[0030] Each dynamic social network model built with respect to a
single user (or generically a single entity, representing either a
user of a group of users) characterizes the networking pattern of
the user. A dynamic social network model may contain a list of
contacts, each of which may be individually modeled. For example,
each contact may be classified into some category (i.e., family
friend, co-worker) and the relationship between the user and the
contact may be rated (e.g., close friend, or casual encounter).
[0031] Whenever a networking request 105, sent from an initiating
party to a user of the communication device 120, is intercepted,
the networking request responding mechanism 250 may first retrieve
an appropriate dynamic social network model 240 corresponding to
the user. The identity of the initiating party may be identified
and used to look up the dynamic social model 240 to verify whether
the initiating party is one of the contacts described in the model.
The networking request responding mechanism 250 makes a responding
decision (either accept or reject the networking request and sends
the response 135 back to the initiating party.
[0032] If the networking request is accepted, the communication
device 120 connects to the initiating party (or contact) via one of
its communication channels to start a communication session. During
the communication session, the communication monitoring mechanism
220 monitors the session, collecting useful data so that dynamic
information can be recorded and used to update the existing social
network model 240.
[0033] FIGS. 3-6 show exemplary internal structures of different
components of the automatic networking response mechanism 110 and
how these components interact with each other. FIG. 3 depicts the
high level internal structure of the communication monitoring
mechanism 220 that monitors the communication activities occurred
during communication sessions, according to an embodiment of the
present invention. The communication monitoring mechanism 220
includes a contact monitor 310, an activity monitor 320, a context
monitor 330, a statistics extractor 340, a monitoring data storage
350, and a indexing mechanism 380.
[0034] The contact monitor 310 keeps track of the identity
information of the user's contacts, which may include user names,
login names, or IDs of the communication device that contacts use
to communicate with the user. Such identity information may be used
by the indexing mechanism 380 to establish proper indices between
contacts and their corresponding communication information. The
activity monitor 320 records communication activities during
communication sessions and collects the information associated with
such activities. For example, the activity monitor 320 may record
the communication channel used (e.g., email or chat room).
[0035] The context monitor 330 captures the context of
communication sessions under which a contact connects to the user.
Such context information may include who initiated the connection
(either the contact or the user) at what time and on what day, how
long the session lasts, or the user's location at the time of the
communication (e.g., shopping mall or doctor's office). While the
activity monitor 320 and the context monitor 330 may merely log
information during communication sessions, such recorded
information may collectively provide a useful basis for
characterizing the communication pattern of both the user and
between the user and any particular contact. For example, a
particular contact often communicates with the user via email
during the day-time for a short period and chats with the user via
on-line chat room at evening times for a much longer period of
time
[0036] The information collected by the three monitors (310, 320,
and 330) may be stored of the contact information storage 360 in
the monitoring data storage 350 and at the same time may be fed to
the statistics extractor 340. The information may be properly
indexed based on, for example, the contacts' identity information.
With indices, the stored information can be efficiently retrieved
from the monitoring data storage 350.
[0037] The statistics extractor 340 computes statistics from the
information collected during different communication sessions
(e.g., contact information, communication activities, and context).
Such statistics may be designed to characterize the relationship
between the user and the contacts. For example, communication
frequency between the user and each contact may be computed to
indicate how closely the user is related to a contact. The most
preferred communication channel with a particular contact may also
be inferred from the recorded monitoring data. A particular contact
may connect with the user every Monday morning via email during
working hours. A different contact usually connects with the user
when the user is in the shopping mall via FTP connection to
exchange data. Yet another different contact may conduct only one
way communication with the user (downloading data to the user).
[0038] Statistics may be dynamically updated whenever new
monitoring information is collected. For example, the frequency of
email exchange with a particular contact may be computed based on
the last 50 emails and it may need to be updated whenever new email
communications occur. The computed statistics are stored in the
contact statistics storage 370, which may also be properly indexed
and linked to the corresponding contact information stored in
360.
[0039] FIG. 4 depicts the high level internal structure of the
dynamic social network modeling mechanism 230 according to an
embodiment of the present invention. The dynamic social network
modeling mechanism 230 comprises a contact information retriever
410, a contact statistics retriever 420, a contact category
classifier 430, a relationship description generator 440, a dynamic
social network model generator 450, and a dynamic response
information receiver 460.
[0040] The dynamic social network modeling mechanism 230 creates a
social network model 240 with respect to a (generic) single user
based on the monitoring data collected by the communication
monitoring mechanism 220. The social network model 240 may be
created as a collection of contacts. Each of the contacts may be
individually characterized according to the communication pattern
between the user and the contact. The dynamic social network
modeling mechanism 230 may also dynamically update the social
network model 240 over the time based on new information collected
from on-going communications between the user and his/her
contacts.
[0041] To model the social network of a user, the dynamic social
network modeling mechanism 230 accesses the monitoring data related
to various contacts from the monitoring data storage 350 (in the
communication monitoring mechanism 220). The user's identity
information may be used as an index to identify appropriate pool of
recorded information. The contact information retriever 410
retrieves various types of information about the contact, including
the identity of the contact (e.g., login name) or the identity of
the communication device that the contact uses to communication
with the user.
[0042] Using the retrieved contact identity as an index, the
contact statistics retriever 420 further accesses the monitoring
data and statistics associated with the contact. The information
retrieved by both the contact information retriever 410 and the
contact statistics retriever 420 provides a basis to model the
relationship between the user and the contact.
[0043] According to the exemplary embodiments of the present
invention, the contact category classifier 430 utilizes the
retrieved monitoring data to classify the contact. For example, a
contact may be classified as the user's friend or co-worker. The
classification may be performed based on some pre-determined
criteria, which may be specified by the user. For example,
communication channel "chat room" may be specified as strictly for
friends but not for co-workers. Based on such specified criterion
and the monitoring data, which records the communication channel
used in each communication session, the contact category classifier
430 may classify those contacts who communicate with the user via
chat room as friends.
[0044] The relationship between the user and a contact may be
further characterized in terms of how close the relationship is.
For example, a contact that communicates with the user on a daily
basis may have a closer relationship to the user than a contact
that connects with the user every several months. Based on this
criterion and the recorded communication frequency, the
relationship description generator 440 may rank the relationship
between the user and each contact.
[0045] The criteria used for the rank and the ranking scheme itself
may be pre-determined either automatically (as default) or manually
by the user. For example, a default ranking scheme may specify that
there are a total of four ranks: not close, pretty close, close,
and very close. Each of the ranks may be associated with one or
more criteria that specify the semantic meaning of the rank. For
example, a relationship may be considered as "close" only when
there are at least one communication session via any communication
channel each week.
[0046] Based on the retrieved information (from 410 and 420), the
classified category information (from 430), and the relationship
ranking information (from 440), the dynamic social network model
generator 450 may generate a contact model for each contact,
describing the relationship between the user and the contact. The
collection of such models corresponds to the social network model
240 of the user. FIG. 5 shows an exemplary construct of a dynamic
social network model. A dynamic social network model may comprise a
set of contact models 505a, 505b, . . . , 505c. Each of the contact
models may include contact characterization 510 and contact
relevant note 520. The former may comprise description of the
contact as well as various aspects of the relationship between the
user and the underlying contact. The latter may include specific
instructions from the user regarding preferred response with
respect to the contact. For example, the user may specify to send a
special message to the contact, whenever the contact attempts to
reach the user during a particular period of time (e.g., one
month), informing the contact a particular status about the user
(e.g., out of town).
[0047] According to the exemplary construct illustrated in FIG. 5,
the contact characterization 510 comprises identification
information 530, category classification 540, contacting context
550, and a relationship description 560. The identification
information 530 may specify the login name of the contact and the
communication device that the contact often uses to contact the
user. The category classification 540 may contain a label
indicating the nature of the relationship between the contact and
the user (e.g., a friend or a business contact or unclear as
default).
[0048] The contacting context 550 may describe the usual context
under which the contact and the user interact with each other. A
usual context may be understood based on the monitoring data
collected from various communication sessions between the user and
the contact. Statistical approaches may be applied to derive the
usual context from such monitoring data. For example, statistical
distributions of communication sessions may be computed with
respect to both day and time and the mean of the distribution
(where most instances occur) may be used as the preferred
communicating time/day between the user and the contact.
[0049] While the usual context can be inferred statistically from
monitoring data, some confidence test may be applied to make sure
that the derived usual context statistically makes sense and
represents the communication pattern between the user and the
contact. For example, if the confidence test fails with respect to
a computed preferred day/time, a null value may be assigned to the
preferred day/time in the model to indicate that there is no
obvious pattern detected with respect to preferred communicating
day/time.
[0050] In FIG. 5, the usual context 550 includes day/time 550a,
channel 550b, location 550c (of the user), and frequency 550d. Such
collective information characterizes the communication habit
between the user and the contact and may be utilized in making a
response decision. For example, if the automatic networking
response mechanism 110 intercepts a networking request from a
contact at a time of a day that is very different from the usual
day/time specified in the contact model, the automatic networking
response mechanism 110 may either decide to reject the request or
prompt the user to make a decision.
[0051] Referring again to FIG. 4, the dynamic social network
modeling mechanism 230 may also update an existing social network
model based on new information. For example, the frequency 550d
associated with a contact may need to be updated whenever a new
communication session is established between the contact and the
user. In this case, the dynamic response information receiver 460
receives the information about a new communication session,
including with which contact the user is communicating, and the
data relevant to the communication session such as the time, date,
communication channel, and the location of the user. The dynamic
response information receiver 460 passes the received information
to the dynamic social network model generator 450 that may then
retrieve corresponding existing social network model and update the
model based on the new information.
[0052] FIG. 6 depicts the high level internal structure of the
automatic response mechanism 250 in relation to the dynamic social
network model 240 and the dynamic social network modeling mechanism
230, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The
automatic response mechanism 250 generates a response 135 to a
networking request 105 based on a dynamic social network model 240
and then triggers the dynamic social network modeling mechanism 230
to update the existing social network model based on the
response.
[0053] The automatic response mechanism 250 comprises a networking
request receiver 610, an identifying mechanism 620 to identify the
contact who issues the request, a contact look-up mechanism 630, a
context matching mechanism 640, a social network sensitive
responding mechanism 650, a calendar 660, a user interaction
mechanism 670, and a dynamic response information sender 680. The
networking request receiver 610 intercepts a networking request
105. Such a networking request may be sent wirelessly to a user to
request a connection. The request 105 may also be sent in a
broadcast (or multicast) fashion to request all the recipients to
respond to form an ad hoc network.
[0054] Upon receiving the networking request 105, the identifying
mechanism 620 identifies both the sender of the request (the
initiating party) and the designated recipient (a user of the
underlying communication device). The resulted identification
information is then fed to the contact look-up mechanism 630 that
examines whether the initiating party is one of the contacts of the
user. Specifically, the contact look-up mechanism 630 may use the
identity of the user to retrieve an appropriate social network
model and then determine whether the initiating party is one of the
contacts modeled in the retrieved social network model.
[0055] If the initiating party is identified as one of the contacts
of the user, the context matching mechanism 640 may further verify
whether the current context under which the networking request is
issued is consistent with the preferred context characterized in
the retrieved social network model. For example, if the preferred
day/time is during working hours (e.g., 8:00 am to 7:00 pm) on a
working day (e.g., Monday through Friday), a networking request
sent on a weekend day may be considered as a mismatch. If the
contact normally connects to the user a few time a month and a
previous communication session with the contact was just a few
hours before (i.e., current communication frequency is much higher
than usual), the current frequency may be considered as
inconsistent with the model.
[0056] Based on the look-up results and the context matching
results, the social network sensitive responding mechanism 650
generates a response 135. The decision about the response 135 may
be reached by looking up a calendar 660 that may record scheduled
activities of the user. For example, if there is an engagement
scheduled in the next few minutes for the user, the networking
request may be refused. The social network sensitive responding
mechanism 650 may also look up user's social network model to see
whether there is a special note about the initiating party. For
example, the user may insert a note in the contact model to
instruct to refuse any networking request from this contact.
[0057] When the current context does not match the preferred
context, the social network sensitive responding mechanism 650 may
decide to consult with the user, via the user interaction mechanism
670, in terms of whether the networking request should be accepted.
The user interaction mechanism 670 may prompt the user, informing
the incoming networking request as well as other relevant
information such as the identity of the contact who makes the
request and the requested communication channel. The user
interaction mechanism 670 acquires the user's decision on whether
to accept the request and send it to the social network sensitive
responding mechanism 650.
[0058] Based on different types of information (e.g., the
networking request, the social network model, the calendar, and the
user), the social network sensitive responding mechanism 650
generates the response 135 and sends it to the requester. At the
same time, information relevant to the response 135 (e.g., day,
time, starting time, contact, communication channel, etc.) is sent
to the dynamic social network modeling mechanism via the dynamic
response information sender 680 to trigger updating the existing
social network model of the user. In this way, the dynamics of the
communication between the user and the contact can be incorporated
into the social network model.
[0059] FIG. 7 is an exemplary flowchart of a process, in which a
communication device automatically responds to a networking request
via an automatic networking response mechanism based on a dynamic
social network model, according to embodiments of the present
invention. Communications between a user of the communication
device 120 and his/her contacts are monitored at act 710 to collect
monitoring data. Based on the monitoring data, a social network
model is generated at act 720. A networking request is received at
act 730. The identities of both the initiating party that sends the
request and the recipient are identified at act 740. The identity
of the recipient (or the user) is used to retrieve an appropriate
social network model. To determine a response, the automatic
networking response mechanism 110 consults, at act 750, the social
network model 240 to verify whether the initiating party is one of
the user's contacts and whether the context under which the
networking request is issued is consistent with the model. Finally,
the automatic networking response mechanism 110 responds, at act
760, the networking request based on the consultation result.
[0060] FIG. 8 is an exemplary flowchart of a process, in which the
communication monitoring mechanism 220 monitors communication
sessions to collect useful monitoring data, according to an
embodiment of the present invention. During a communication session
between a user and a contact, communication activities are observed
at act 820. Context information related to the communication
session is extracted at act 830. Various relevant statistics are
further computed at act 840. Such gathered information is then
stored, at act 850, in the monitoring data storage 350. To
facilitate efficient retrieval of stored monitoring data,
appropriate indices are constructed at act 860.
[0061] FIG. 9 is an exemplary flowchart of a process, in which the
dynamic social network modeling mechanism 230 establishes and
maintains a dynamic social network model based on monitoring data
collected during user's communication sessions, according to an
embodiment of the present invention. To construct a social network
model for a user, for each of the user's contacts, contact
information is first retrieved at act 910. Relevant statistics are
further retrieved at act 920. Based on the retrieved information,
the dynamic social network modeling mechanism 230 classifies, at
act 930, the contact into one of a plurality of categories,
specifying the nature of the relationship between the contact and
the user. In addition, a relationship description is generated, at
act 940, that specifies the closeness of the relationship between
the user and the contact.
[0062] Using the monitoring data, the category information, and the
relationship description, the dynamic social network modeling
mechanism 230 builds, at act 945, a contact model. The acts between
910 and 945 are repeated for each of the user's contacts. When
contact models are built for all the contacts, determined at act
950, the dynamic social network modeling mechanism 230 models, at
act 960, the user's overall social network. Once the dynamic social
network model for the user is created, it is dynamically maintained
and updated. Whenever new information is received, determined at
act 970, the corresponding dynamic social network model is updated
at act 980.
[0063] FIG. 10 is an exemplary flowchart of a process, in which the
networking request responding mechanism 250 automatically responds
to a networking request based on a dynamic social network model,
according to embodiments of the present invention. A networking
request is received at act 1010. The identities of both the
initiating party and the request recipient are identified at act
1020. Based on the identity of the recipient (user), an appropriate
social network model is retrieved. The networking request
responding mechanism 250 then consults, at act 1030, with the
social network model with respect to the identity of the initiating
party.
[0064] If the initiating party is identified as one of the user's
contacts, determined at act 1035, the current context under which
the contact issues the networking request is compared with the
preferred context specified in the social network model to see
whether they are consistent. If the initiating party is not one of
the user's contacts, the networking request responding mechanism
250 denies, at act 1040, the networking request.
[0065] If the current context matches with the preferred context,
determined at act 1045, the networking request responding mechanism
250 grants, at act 1060, the networking request. If the current
context does not match the preferred context, the networking
request responding mechanism 250 consults, at act 1040, with the
user. If the user allows the requested connection, determined at
act 1055, the networking request responding mechanism 250 grants
the networking request. If the user refuses the requested
connection, the networking request responding mechanism 250 denies,
at act 1080, the networking request. In both cases (grant or deny
the networking request), the networking request responding
mechanism 250 generates, at act 1070, information related to the
response. Such information is then sent, at act 1090, to the
dynamic social network modeling mechanism 230 to trigger a dynamic
update on the relevant social network model.
[0066] While the invention has been described with reference to the
certain illustrated embodiments, the words that have been used
herein are words of description, rather than words of limitation.
Changes may be made, within the purview of the appended claims,
without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention in its
aspects. Although the invention has been described herein with
reference to particular structures, acts, and materials, the
invention is not to be limited to the particulars disclosed, but
rather extends to all equivalent structures, acts, and, materials,
such as are within the scope of the appended claims.
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