Social-distance permission-based search algorithm

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9965560-B2
Application number	US-201514611772-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 2, 2015
Priority date	Feb 2, 2015
Publication date	May 8, 2018
Grant date	May 8, 2018

Abstract

An apparatus, system and method for providing search results based on a social distance from a user are provided. The method includes receiving a search query from a user, setting a value representing a social distance from the user, the social distance including one or more levels, gathering results corresponding to the search query for each level of social distance, and providing the gathered results to the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for searching for contents, the method comprising:
receiving a query to search content of a social networking service (SNS) database from a user;
setting a value representing a social distance from the user to other users within the SNS database, the social distance including one or more levels;
narrowing the content of the SNS database to content that is associated with one or more users including one or more contacts of the user that are within the set value of social distance from the user;
performing a search, corresponding to the query, of the narrowed content of the SNS database;
gathering results of the search; and
providing the gathered results to the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising resetting the value representing the social distance based on the gathered results.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the results are gathered based on at least one of alphabetically, a last access time, an activity level, and a time of creation.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the results are gathered from data containers within the SNS database.

5. At least one non-transitory processor readable medium for storing a computer program of instructions configured to be readable by at least one processor for instructing the at least one processor to execute a computer process for performing the method as recited in claim 1 .

6. A system for searching for contents, the system comprising:
a social networking service (SNS) database, the SNS database including content; and
at least one processor configured to:
receive a query to search content of the SNS database from a user,
set a value representing a social distance from the user to other users within the SNS database, the social distance including one or more levels,
narrow the content of the SNS database to content that is associated with one or more users including one or more contacts of the user that are within the set value of social distance from the user,
perform a search, corresponding to the query, of content of the SNS database,
gather results of the search, and
provide the gathered results to the user.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to reset the value representing the social distance based on the gathered results.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to gather the results based on at least one of alphabetically, a last access time, an activity level, and a time of creation.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the SNS database comprises data containers.

10. A user device for searching for contents, the user device comprising:
an input device configured to:
receive a query to search content of a social networking service (SNS) database from a user, and
receive a value representing a social distance from the user to other users within the SNS database, the social distance including one or more levels;

a wireless communication device configured to:
transmit the query and the value representing the social distance to a network, and
receive results corresponding to the query; and

a display device configured to provide the received results to the user,
wherein the results correspond to narrowed content of the SNS database that is associated with one or more users including one or more contacts of the user that are within the set value of social distance from the user.

11. The user device of claim 10 , wherein the value representing the social distance is re-input by the user based on the received results and retransmitted by the wireless communication device.

12. The user device of claim 10 , wherein the results are gathered based on at least one of alphabetically, a last access time, an activity level, and a time of creation.

13. The user device of claim 10 , wherein the results are gathered from data containers within an SNS website.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sun Xiang
• Wang Luyi
• King Peter

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G06F16/9535 Primary

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title

• G06F16/9536 Primary

  Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering · CPC title

• G06F17/30867 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06Q50/01

  Physics · mapped topic