Patent · US Active

Techniques for estimating distance between members of a social network service

US9454750B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by
2References
20Claims
0Family size

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Key dates

Filing dateJul 18, 2012
Grant dateSep 27, 2016
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 25, 2033

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06Q50/01
  • WIPO fieldIT methods for management
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Techniques for estimating, in real time, the likelihood that any particular member of a social network service is a third degree connection of another member are described. Consistent with some embodiments, various member profile attributes of a member are used as a sort of proxy for determining the likelihood or probability that the member is a third degree connection of another member. For example, in some instances, the number of first-degree connections a member has is used to derive a probability score indicating the likelihood that the member is a third-degree connection of another member, such as a person performing a people-search. Once derived, the probability score for each member may be used in various applications, such as a people-search engine, to boost or increase a ranking score assigned to each search result and used to order the search results when presented to the user who has performed the search.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.