Methods and devices for online contacts expansion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9813373-B2
Application number	US-201514603129-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 22, 2015
Priority date	Sep 30, 2013
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

A device may include a storage medium and a processor. The processor may execute a set of instructions in the storage medium to: provide a first platform; provide a first user account registered in the first platform to a user; access, through the first user account, a second user account of the user registered in a second platform; obtain, from the second user account, a communication log of the second user account; obtain an address list from the second user account; obtain a plurality of contacts from the second user account who have a prior communication with the user through the second user account based on the communication log; select, from the plurality of contacts, at least one recommended contact for the user; combine the at least one recommended contact with the address list in to a combined list; and display the combined list via the first user account, highlighting the at least one recommended contact to the user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for expanding online contacts of a user, comprising:
providing a first account registered in a first communication server to the user, wherein the first communication server includes a processor;
accessing, by the processor through the first account from the first communication server, a second account of the user registered in a second communication server;
obtaining, by the processor and from the second communication server, a communication log associated with communication history of the user through the second account by:
obtaining, by the processor, an access token of the second account from the second communication server, wherein the access token is configured to identify the second account in the second communication server, and instruct the second communication server to confirm the second account and obtain the communication log from the second account;
sending, by the processor, an acquisition request carrying the access token to the second communication server; and
receiving the communication log from the second communication server; and

obtaining, by the processor, an address list from the second communication server, wherein the address list includes a plurality of personal connections of the user;
obtaining, by the processor, a plurality of contacts from the second communication server who have a prior communication with the user through the second account based on the communication log;
selecting, by the processor from the plurality of contacts, at least one recommended contact for the user;
combining, by the processor, the at least one recommended contact with the address list into a combined list; and
displaying, by the processor, the combined list via the first account, highlighting the at least one recommended contact to the user.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the access token comprises:
sending, by the processor, a request of open authorization verification to the second communication server;
receiving, by the processor, a landing page from the second communication server, wherein the landing page is configured to receive an account number and password of the second account from the user;
receiving, by the processor, the account number and a password of the second account from the user;
sending, by the processor, an authorization message to the second communication server, wherein the authorization message includes the account number and password of the second account; and
receiving, by the processor, the access token from the second communication server as a response of the sending of the account number and password of the second account.

3. The method in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising, for each of the at least one recommended contact:
sending, by the processor, a first message to a first contact account of the each of the at least one recommended contact in the first communication server when the processor determines that a second contact account of the each of the at least one recommended contact in the second communication server has been bound to the first contact account; and
sending, by the processor, a second message to an E-mail address associated with the second contact account when the processor determines that the second contact account of the each of the at least one recommended contact has not been bound to the first contact account of the each of the at least one recommended contact.

4. The method in accordance with claim 3 , wherein,
the first message is a request to add the each of the at least one recommended contact in a friend list associated with the first account or a request to share a message; and
the second message is an E-mail message sent through a public E-mail account associated with the second communication server, wherein the E-mail message includes at least one of:
a request to the each of the at least one recommended contact to bind the second contact account to the first contact account,
a request to the each of the at least one recommended contact to register an account in the first communication server, and
a shared message.

5. A computer-implemented method for expanding online contacts of a user, comprising:
providing a first account registered in a first communication server to the user, wherein the first communication server includes a processor;
accessing, by the processor through the first account from the first communication server, a second account of the user registered in a second communication server;
obtaining, by the processor and from the second communication server, a communication log associated with communication history of the user through the second account;
obtaining, by the processor, an address list from the second communication server, wherein the address list includes a plurality of personal connections of the user;
obtaining, by the processor, a plurality of contacts from the second communication server who have a prior communication with the user through the second account based on the communication log;
selecting, by the processor from the plurality of contacts, at least one recommended contact for the user by:
removing, from the plurality of contacts, contacts that are not one of the plurality of personal connections in the address list;
selecting from the remaining plurality of contacts at least one contact that has previously communicated with the user through the second account at a communication frequency that:
exceeds a preset frequency threshold, or
belongs to a first preset number of contacts with highest communication frequencies with the user; and

assigning, by the processor, the selected at least one contact as the at least one recommended contact;

combining, by the processor, the at least one recommended contact with the address list into a combined list; and
displaying, by the processor, the combined list via the first account, highlighting the at least one recommended contact to the user.

6. The method in accordance with claim 5 , wherein the communication log includes communication messages and communication times between the user and each of the plurality of contacts through the second account.

7. The method in accordance with claim 6 , wherein for each of the plurality of contacts the communication frequency is determined by:
obtaining, by the processor and based on the communication log, an amount of communication messages between the contact and the user through the second account, and obtaining, by the processor and based on the communication log, a communication time corresponding to each of the communication messages; and
determining, by the processor, the communication frequency based on the amount of communication messages and the corresponding communication times.

8. The method in accordance with claim 6 , wherein the communication messages include at least one of:
logs of E-mail communications between the user and the plurality of contacts through the second account, and
logs of instant message communications between the user and the plurality of contacts through the second account.

9. A communication account server, comprising:
a processor-readable non-transitory storage medium including a set of instructions for expanding online contacts of a user; and
a processor in communication with the non-transitory storage medium, configured to execute the set of instructions to:
provide a first communication platform;
provide a first account registered in the first communication platform to the user;
access, through the first account communication platform, a second account of the user registered in a second communication platform;
obtain an access token of the sec

Assignees

• Tencent Tech Shenzhen Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Xiaolong
• Liu Lejun
• Chen Yuewei
• Lin Yongyu
• Lin Yingxia
• Pan Changpeng
• Zha Wen
• Wei Yonglong

Classifications

• G06Q10/10 Primary

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04L51/32 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/16

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L51/216 Primary

  Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads · CPC title