WO2008017488A2 - Procédés et systèmes pour établir des relations entre des utilisateurs de dispositifs de communication mobile - Google Patents

Procédés et systèmes pour établir des relations entre des utilisateurs de dispositifs de communication mobile Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2008017488A2
WO2008017488A2 PCT/EP2007/007072 EP2007007072W WO2008017488A2 WO 2008017488 A2 WO2008017488 A2 WO 2008017488A2 EP 2007007072 W EP2007007072 W EP 2007007072W WO 2008017488 A2 WO2008017488 A2 WO 2008017488A2
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
user
communication device
mobile communication
message
time
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PCT/EP2007/007072
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English (en)
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WO2008017488A3 (fr
Inventor
Thomas Müller
Jan Schulz
Lars Grau
Markus Juhr-De Benedetti
Original Assignee
Mueller Thomas
Jan Schulz
Lars Grau
Markus Juhr-De Benedetti
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Priority claimed from DE102006037250A external-priority patent/DE102006037250A1/de
Application filed by Mueller Thomas, Jan Schulz, Lars Grau, Markus Juhr-De Benedetti filed Critical Mueller Thomas
Publication of WO2008017488A2 publication Critical patent/WO2008017488A2/fr
Publication of WO2008017488A3 publication Critical patent/WO2008017488A3/fr

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q50/00—Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism
    • G06Q50/10—Services
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/2866—Architectures; Arrangements
    • H04L67/30—Profiles
    • H04L67/306—User profiles

Definitions

  • the invention generally relates to identifying and establishing communities among mobile communication device users.
  • Networking and on-line and mobile dating services require individuals to register in advance and complete user profiles typically including an anonymous or public summary of an individual's background, skills, experience, likes, dislikes and other personal information including a picture of the individual kept in a central database. Users of these services can then employ various search criteria such as gender, geographic location of one's residence or specific activities in which they are interested in order to identify a subset of other users in whom they may be interested. The user conducting the search can then browse through this subset of other users to view their pictures and individual profiles in order to decide whether or not to contact them. If they choose to contact another user, a message is sent by the service to that specific person.
  • search criteria such as gender, geographic location of one's residence or specific activities in which they are interested in order to identify a subset of other users in whom they may be interested.
  • the user conducting the search can then browse through this subset of other users to view their pictures and individual profiles in order to decide whether or not to contact them. If they choose to contact another user, a message is sent by the service
  • the present invention enables users to build communities based on readily and ubiquitously available mobile phone technology and on contextual dimensions in particular including time, a user's current geographic location, and a user-defined key. This is achieved by providing: the creation of a token which identifies a potential community based on some combination of one or more properties of time, user-defined key, and geographic location; the use of the resulting token to indicate to other members of the community your interest in establishing such a relationship; and providing a basis for identifying the source of the message using the same token.
  • this instant community of drinking buddies can be established on-the-fly at the push of a button and subsequently any member can communicate with all others, if the time/date or venue of the next appointment needs to be agreed or changed, or if they can not attend; (b) At the concert of a popular music band Robby, the event organizer invites the fans to join the Robby community to subsequently meet other Robby fans.
  • this instant community of potentially 1 ,000s of members can be established by each pushing a button on their mobile phone after taking an impromptu picture of themselves, if desired.
  • embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in numerous ways in software, hardware, or a combination thereof.
  • Various embodiments can be distinguished depending on usage of one or more of time, user-defined key, and location attributes for identifying and establishing communities among persons.
  • Two exemplary embodiments that use the following combination of attributes (e.g. time, user-defined key, location) are described in detail:
  • the user-defined key is made of a combination of letters, special characters, numerals, or words. In another embodiment, the user-defined key is made of a combination of letters and numerals. In yet another embodiment, a user-defined key is made of numbers only.
  • a location is a street address. In another embodiment, the location is at least one of the name of a street, the name of a town, the name of a landmark, longitude and latitude identification. In another embodiment, the location could be any identification so long as a physical location may be ascertained unambiguously from that identification.
  • a computer-implemented method of establishing and identifying relationships between mobile communication device users is provided. Messages received from users are parsed to obtain user identifiers and keywords as user-defined keys. The probability that a match was intended, or an encounter between users did take place (hereinafter referred to as the "matching probability") between users is then calculated using the time of transmission of each message (hereinafter referred to as the "receive time" of the message, or simply the "time” of the message), the location from which the message was sent, and the probability of whether the user-defined keys match. In one embodiment, the process of matching of the user-defined keys takes into account common misspellings and typographical errors.
  • an apparatus for establishing and identifying relationships between mobile communications device users includes an inbound message receiver, outbound message sender, and a scoring engine.
  • the inbound message receiver will receive a request message sent from a mobile communication device.
  • the outbound message sender will convert a response message according to a mobile communication protocol and send the response message to the mobile communication device.
  • the scoring engine will calculate a matching probability of a match between at least two mobile communication device users, wherein the matching probability is calculated using at least one of the identifiers: a distance between the mobile communication devices users, a difference in time of receipt of messages from the mobile communication device users, and a match of keys defined by the mobile communication device users.
  • a computer readable media having program instructions for executing a computer-implemented method identifying and establishing relationships between mobile communication device users. Messages received from users are parsed to obtain user identifiers and user-defined keys. The matching probability is then calculated using the time of receipt of each message, location from which the message was sent, and whether the user-defined keys match.
  • Figure 1A illustrates a prior art scenario for establishing a relationship between people.
  • Figure 1B illustrates how retrospective community building resolves a variant of the prisoner's dilemma between two individuals who may be romantically interested in each other in a two-step approach, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figures 1C, 1 D, and 1 E illustrate various scenarios in the identification, verification, and community or social relationship building process between mobile communication device users based on received messages and identification characteristics, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figures 2 A - 2C illustrate the temporal aspects of matching in a scenario based on a community, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 3 illustrates a system and network for sending, receiving, generating and processing messages, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 4 illustrates an embodiment of the data structure of a user and the membership of a mobile device user in a user list, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 5 illustrates a control flow of creating user lists, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 6 illustrates the login request flow within the network, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 7 illustrates the establishment of relationships between users based on time and proximity factors as well as the method of scoring, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 8 illustrates a scoring equation for computing temporal and geographical distances and the matching probability, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 9A illustrates an exemplary login page, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 9B illustrates an exemplary specify location page, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • FIG. 10A illustrates an exemplary dashboard page, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 10B illustrates an exemplary chat page, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the term "community” refers to the creation of a set of relationships between two or more individuals based on some common event, such as meeting at a concert, expressing an interest in friendship at a point in time, etc.
  • term “community” also refers to creation of a network, a community, or a relationship spontaneously based on a shared encounter.
  • a community is a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists.
  • Networking services and on-line or mobile or proximity-based services have one main drawback: relationships cannot be truly established spontaneously, because the services always require premeditation and preparation (e.g., individual pre-registration by each member and the set-up of a dedicated web-site, or programming a portable device).
  • Challenges with current mobile and on-line dating systems are that they do not support positive partner selection in the real physical world, and they do not eliminate fear of rejection.
  • Embodiments of the present invention enable individuals to efficiently identify and initiate communication with an unknown person they met in the past if and only if both desire to do so.
  • One of the advantages of embodiments of the present invention is that users maintain control because a communication is not allowed to be initiated without mutual consent. Moreover, privacy and anonymity are maintained because personal information is not required for establishing a match.
  • Embodiments of the present system provide methods for the efficient, simultaneous, and instant establishment of communities with large numbers of other mobile communication device users.
  • Embodiments of the present system reflect the highly dynamic character of today's social relationships between humans or enables users to build
  • embodiments of the present system enable a user to anonymously indicate interest in (e.g. an intimate encounter or relationship with) another user after an initial encounter in the real physical world.
  • a system, apparatus, and method are presented in which a server that is connected to a worldwide communications network receives messages from users' of mobile communication devices, which represent at least one of the identification characteristics. Then the system selects the users whose identification characteristics lie within a defined range for the identification characteristics.
  • the system receives messages with the identification characteristics time, location, and user-defined key, provides a web user interface that groups and displays mobile communication device users whose messages fulfill certain criteria with respect to each other, and enables those users to communicate and to establish a community.
  • the users of mobile devices are able to create an instant community of users.
  • the system receives messages with the above mentioned identification characteristics and efficiently establishes bilateral relationships between those mobile communication device users whose messages with matching user-defined keys were received within a pre-defined time-span, and/or within a pre-defined geographical limitation.
  • one advantage of the embodiments of the present invention is that the community building process is efficient because each person has to only execute one action (i.e. less information is exchanged); hence, in total, all persons have to only perform linear efforts.
  • Figure 1A illustrates a prior art scenario for establishing a relationship or community.
  • One person 10 perceives a possible connection 14 with another 12, but must overcome the fear of rejection 16 and hence may not reveal the perceived connection 14. Further, the other person 12 may have this same fear 16, and may equally not reveal the perceived connection.
  • Figure 1B illustrates a decision matrix between the two individuals.
  • Experience in daily life shows that fear of rejection is oftentimes larger than the desire for romance, leading to many "missed
  • FIG. 1C illustrates an embodiment of forming a community 40.
  • a mobile communication device user 50a wishes to establish a community 40 with one or more other mobile communication device users based on time 54, location 56, and a user- defined key 52.
  • User 50a defines and communicates (e.g., by word-of- mouth) a user-defined key 52 to other mobile communication device users 50b, 50c, and 5Od. Only the mobile communication device users 50a, 50b, and 50c in possession of the key, who meet all three criteria, i.e. they sent the key 52 at the location 56 at the given time 54, will form community 40.
  • a community 40 may include any number of mobile communication device users as long as the "initiating" mobile communication device user 50a is able to effectively and efficiently communicate the key 52 to other mobile communication device users wishing to join the community 40.
  • FIG. 1D illustrates another embodiment of community building.
  • a mobile communication device user 5Og wishes to establish a relationship with a mobile communication device user 5Oe based on both users' presence at or near a specific location 56 and an approximate time 54.
  • three mobile communication device users 5Oe 1 5Of, and 5Og (potentially unknown to each other) each send a message to the server 240 (see Figure 3) and thus form a community 40 solely based on identification characteristics time and location.
  • FIG. 1E illustrates yet another embodiment.
  • An initiating mobile communication device user 5Oh defines and communicates a key 52 to mobile communication device users 5Oi 1 5Oj, 50k.
  • the key 52 in combination with the time 54 of transmission would enable mobile communication device users 5Oh, 5Oi, and 5Oj to form a community 40 as in the previously-described embodiment but solely based on the identification characteristics time and user-defined key enabling building of a community 40 irrespective of location.
  • the key would be either broadcasted, or advertised, or otherwise effectively, efficiently, and widely communicated to mobile communication device users.
  • Figures 2A-2C illustrate examples of what three users would see in their "User Lists" based on a pre-defined stream of messages sent by the three users who are friends and two random other users.
  • a "User Lists” illustrate examples of what three users would see in their "User Lists" based on a pre-defined stream of messages sent by the three users who are friends and two random other users.
  • List refers to the list of members of a community that a user is a member of.
  • the figures 2A-2C focus on the temporal aspect of the matching (matching the times of the receipt of the messages) and on the sorting by "closeness" of the match; location and user-defined key (the key is "PARTY” in the example) are assumed to be the same.
  • each person By means of matching, each person only reveals themselves to those other persons who also revealed themselves by sending a message with the identification criteria of time and location. Note that a "match" between two persons is symmetric, i.e. if person A matches person B 1 than person B will also match person A. The match is, however, not transitive: if person B matches person C, than person A does not necessarily match person C.
  • Figure 2A shows the temporal sequence of the messages with the key "PARTY" sent by:
  • Susan 126 sends her message at a particular time 4:02:20 106.
  • the limits of temporal proximity are exemplarily defined as be 2 minutes before 104 the particular time 106 or after 108 the particular time 106 the message has been sent.
  • Mary 110 sends her message at a time 4:04:05 114.
  • Mary's 110 message is within 2 minutes of Stranger
  • Stranger B 134 sends his message at a time 4:06:25 138, and his two-minute band prior to sending the message 136 will produce a potential match only with Bob 118. Note that if a potential match is produced in one direction it is also produced in the other direction.
  • Figure 2B illustrates what Mary 110 will see in her User List; Bob 118 sent his message 122 "closest in time" 166 and would be
  • Figure 2C shows the three User Lists in comparison - as they may appear on a screen.
  • Mary 110 selects her list around the user-defined key "PARTY”
  • Bob 282, Susan 284, and Stranger A 286 on the screen 280.
  • Mary 110 can then choose to delete any of them using the delete control 288.
  • Mary 110 may remove the name of the Stranger A 286 from the screen 280.
  • Bob 116 selects his User List around the user-defined key "PARTY”
  • Bob can delete 298 any of them.
  • FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary apparatus for enabling community building, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.
  • the apparatus includes mobile communication devices in communication with a communication network to establish relationships or communities.
  • the mobile communication devices 200 send and receive messages.
  • Wireless towers 201 that receive messages from mobile communication devices 200 and forward those messages to a wireless network 202.
  • the wireless towers 201 also receive messages from a wireless network 202 and forward those messages to mobile communication devices 200.
  • the Internet 203 enables communication between the server 205 and wireless networks 202 such that the messages can be exchanged between the devices, including mobile communication devices 200 and user's computers 204.
  • the wireless network 202 includes member's computers 204, and, mobile communication devices 200.
  • the server 240 contains an inbound message receiver 206 which receives messages from the Internet 203 and forwards those messages to a message parser 207.
  • the message parser 207 breaks up each message into its message components.
  • a message consists of a header and body.
  • the header consists of an MSISDN identifier.
  • the location indicator may be generated using a GPS system.
  • users would enter location identifications by logging into the Internet interface of the system for identifying and establishing relationships and communities.
  • the communication network may provide an approximate location of the user at the time the user sent the message.
  • the body consists of a text string representation of the user-defined key.
  • the message time identifier 209 is generated from the receive time of the message.
  • the message components 222 are sent to a message analyzer 208 that analyzes a message to determine if the message comes from a user who is part of a community with which this user can be associated. The analysis occurs using specified parsing rules 217 which recognize and make available the header components and body of the message including the generated time identifier.
  • the map engine 224 will verify that the user has opted in for automatic positioning (i.e. location attribute is to be included in the criteria for establishing the community).
  • the user may also include the location attribute in the criteria by manually providing user's location at the time of sending the message.
  • the user component 220 encapsulates the user profiles as well as their Mobile Station Integrated Services Digital Network identifier (MSISDN) 354.
  • MSISDN Mobile Station Integrated Services Digital Network identifier
  • the user profile includes login-code, password, sex, photo, age-group, email address, blacklist (a list of blocked users).
  • the user profile may include any service provider defined metadata of user profile so long as the user component 220 can encapsulate it.
  • the message component 222 creates and updates the users' messages as well as their time 54, location 56 and message specific filter criteria such as gender, age, and sexual orientation of the other encountered users.
  • the map engine 224 manages maps, location coordinates such that if the message included location information and the association of messages with the location attribute.
  • the matching engine 226 processes data from the user component 220 against data from messages stored in the message component 222 using matching rules to select messages of relevant mobile communication device users. Matching rules compare the attributes of the message to specified criteria for a given community. For instance the message time must be within specific limits of other messages, and the users' keys or locations must match.
  • the scoring engine 228 computes for each message selected by the matching engine 226 the matching probability with the sender.
  • the probability is based on a formula which uses the location 56 and time 54 differentials between this user and the sender of the selected message based on the message data provided by the message component 222.
  • the chat engine 230 manages chat messages and enables the communication of matched users.
  • One embodiment of a chat engine would include the sorting of chat messages by thread, which is a specific message sequence between two users and by time within that thread.
  • the group component 233 manages relationships between those mobile communication device users who send matching keys 52 within a configurable time-frame 54 indicated by the validity time frame.
  • the notification component 235 listens to internal events and sends notification messages to mobile communication device users.
  • the notification component 235 manages relationships based on a set of rules based on location and time message was received.
  • the message generator 211 uses templates 232 and the output of the other components to generate messages.
  • templates are text strings which may or may not contain placeholders for user information such as name, MSISDN, time original message received, etc. For example, "Welcome first time Spooter" or
  • the outbound message sender 210 sends the generated messages from the message generator 211 out to the mobile communication devices 200 including generating the message text and invoking an external service for sending a SMS to a mobile subscriber associated with the specific MSISDN.
  • each mobile communication device 200 receives one welcome message from the outbound message sender 210 on a first-time interaction with the server. Additionally the mobile communication device 200 receives, after any interaction, a notification message containing information about the number of relationships.
  • the server is configured to send periodic informational messages regarding user's activities, changes in the profile, changes in the user list, etc.
  • a user is enabled to customize how often and what kind of messages are received.
  • the request receiver 212 receives messages from the mobile communication devices 200 and transfers the messages for further processing by various processing engines including the matching engine 226, chat engine 230, scoring engine 228.
  • the request parser 213 parses the received messages from the request receiver 212 into its message components.
  • a Request Receiver 212 receives HTTP inquiries from the Web or mobile Web.
  • An Inbound Message Receiver 206 receives SMS message. Both store into the same data structure. The logic of the allocation and the manipulation are different.
  • the request analyzer 214 analyzes the incoming message by extracting the request components.
  • the response generator 216 uses templates 232 to generate a response.
  • the message is delivered as a web page, where the message is personalized for each user.
  • the response sender 210 sends the messages generated by the response generator 215 to the mobile communication devices 200.
  • Figure 4 illustrates one embodiment of the user data structure 401 and message data structure 402 used by the grouping component 233 (see Figure 3).
  • a user is identified by an MSISDN 420. Note that if one user has two MSISDN each of the MSISDNs identifies the same user. Another embodiment would include functionality to migrate a user from one MSISDN to another or to merge many MSISDNs to one user account.
  • User characteristics are stored with the user include age 413, gender 414.
  • a user is a member of one or more user lists shown by a membership list 411 , in a role of either member or founder.
  • the founder can control the membership of others, where the member can only control his or her membership. Further, removing a user who is a founder would essentially delete the list and remove all other members from it. All users who are a member of a user list are identified with a member entry in the user list 412. Note that each user is the founder of one user list and member in none, one or many user lists of other users.
  • the filter criteria 419 are used to map the users on the user list 412 to membership on specific lists 411.
  • the filter criteria 419 are rule driven based on one or more filters.
  • the Blacklisted MSISDN filter 421 will block all users on the user's blacklist from having membership in any user list.
  • the other filters are specific to the characteristics of the other user or the messages sent by that user. For instance, age criteria would map from the user's age 413 to the age filter 416, gender criteria would map from the user's gender 414 to the gender filter 417.
  • Proximity score filter 418 would match users to the user list based on the proximity score calculation of the message 402 associated with the user list 412.
  • Each user e.g., user 5Og in Figure 1D
  • user and message-specific verification lists are accessible within a user interface (e.g., web user interface) and enable mobile communication device users (e.g., user 5Oe and 5Og in Figure 1D) to initiate communication with others and subsequently, if mutually desired, continue communication and establish a relationship with each other.
  • a user interface e.g., web user interface
  • mobile communication device users e.g., user 5Oe and 5Og in Figure 1D
  • the filter could interact with a message store, analyze such a message store to determine characteristics of messages sent by each use such as frequency of messages sent or number of messages sent in a given period of time, such that a filter could also reflect SMS characteristics of the user such as the number of messages sent per week.
  • a user 401 sends one or more messages 402.
  • the message has a context 403 which consists of a timestamp 406 and may contain either a key 404, location 405, or both.
  • a key is a user-defined word or phrase which can identify groups of users. The key may be something that all users agree on to identify them, or some common word or phrase that all users would send to find other users such as "SPOOT" or "PARTY”.
  • the location 405 can be part of the message, may be entered by the user on login, or may be provided by the system (see Figure 6).
  • a message is used to enable a user to join a user list if that message matches user list criteria 409.
  • the criteria are based on a key match if a key is present, and a matching time interval within a predefined interval based on a pre-defined rule. In one embodiment, there would be a match if the key is syntactically, semantically, or phonetically similar to another key sent by another user.
  • Figure 5 illustrates a process flow from the reception of a (SMS) message until the storage of the respective data relevant for the user-defined key, for one embodiment of the present invention.
  • User A sends a text message and the system receives and stores the message 1104.
  • binary-coded messages may be used.
  • the request receiver 212 processes the received text message by converting the received SMS signal to a system-compatible digital signal and sends the Message 402 to the message parser 207.
  • the message parser 205 extracts the timestamp 406 of the reception time from the context 403 of the text message 1105.
  • the message parser 207 extracts the MSISDN from the message header and looks up User A 1106. Note that the MSISDN is part of the SMS message header and is presumed to be in the message. In one embodiment the MSISDN is the phone number of User A.
  • the request parser 213 passes the message components to the request analyzer 214, which determines whether User A (with the MSISDN specified) already exists, or not 1107. If the user does not exist, the request analyzer 214 passes the request to the user component 220 to create a new User A identified by the MSISDN 1108.
  • the request analyzer determines the context of the User A's message by analysing the message body 1109: if the body is "empty" (i.e.
  • the context will be the location of User A when sending the message. Otherwise, if the message body is not empty because a key has been defined, then the context will be defined by the key 1112. If the context has a location, the user component 220 checks if the User A has opt-in (i.e. accepted) for automatic positioning 1110. If not so, User A has to login to the website 1201 (i.e. the Internet interface to the server 240) and specify the respective location (see Figure 6). If so, then the apparatus obtains User A's location by calling a Web service, and stores the respective location 1111. If the context includes a user-defined key, then the request analyzer 214 extracts the key from the message body and stores it as the key 1112.
  • the user component 220 checks if the User A has opt-in (i.e. accepted) for automatic positioning 1110. If not so, User A has to login to the website 1201 (i.e. the Internet interface to the server 240) and specify the respective location (see Figure 6). If so, then the apparatus obtains User A
  • the first word of the message body would be the key.
  • the matching engine 226 is sent the message components and retrieves all user lists if any 1113, where the time stamp of User A's message falls within the time interval as defined in the MatchingTimelnterval 408 and the user-defined key 404 of User A's message "matches" that of the respective user list 1114. Additionally, the matching engine 226 would exclude user lists 412 "owned” by User A himself, i.e. where User A has a user list membership 411 with a role of founder in such a user list 1114. Matching engine 226 adds User A as a member of each User List by creating an entry with a role of member in User List Membership 411 for each retrieved User List 1115, Note that
  • the matching engine 226 passes each match to the group component 233, which then creates for User A a user list 1116. Additionally, the matching engine 226 passes the match to the scoring engine 228 creates a "(proximity) score" 415 and assigns it to the User
  • the "score” is based on the temporal distance between the respective time stamps and the “similarity” between the respective user-defined keys. In one embodiment the similarity results from the semantically or phonetically algorithm.
  • the User Component 220 then creates the User List
  • the User Component 220 then creates for each User B...Z one User List Membership 411 with a role of member in the new User List
  • the Matching Engine 226 determines the User List Matching Criteria 409 for User List A by looking up the Time Interval Configuration 1119 (i.e. StartTimestamp, Duration) for the user-defined key 404 in the Context 403. Additionally, the scoring engine 228 creates a proximity score 415 and assigns it to the User List Membership 1120. The matching engine 226 then determines if it found a Time Interval (StartTimestamp, Duration) for the user-defined key 1120. If a Time Interval is found, then the matching engine 228 calculates a time interval (Tl) based on Start Timestamp and Duration 1121.
  • Tl time interval
  • the matching engine 226 looks up a configurable default Matching Time Interval (DMTI) and calculates Matching Time Interval (MTI) as superposition of DMTI and Tl 1122. Otherwise, if Time Interval is not found, it looks up a configurable DMTI and sets the MTI to DMTI 1123.
  • the matching engine 226 creates a User List Matching Criteria (ULMC) 409 with MTI as Matching Time Interval 408 and the respective user-defined key as
  • MatchingTimeContext 407 1124 The matching engine 226 associates the ULMC with the created User List A 1125. Note that now the matching engine 226 is able to compare the next incoming message with the User List Matching Criteria of User A 1 S User List A.
  • Figure 6 illustrates a data flow during registration and login between the mobile communication device 200 and the server 240 as well as from the point the location is determined in an embodiment where automatic location is enabled.
  • the client could be a web browser rather than a mobile communication device 200.
  • the location is provided by the mobile device 200 with the message.
  • the location is entered by the user using an Internet interface.
  • this parsing activity would be to receive a standard HTTP message with username as the MSISDN identifier and a password. The user then selects the message from a list of one or more pending messages to be processed, and provides the location the message was sent from 1203. One embodiment of this would be by enabling the user to interact with a map via the map engine 224. The location is then stored with the message 1203.
  • the matching engine 226 sents the message components and retrieves all user lists if any, where the time stamp of User A's message falls within the time interval as defined in the MatchingTimelnterval 408 and the user-defined 404 of User A's message "matches" that of the respective user list 1204. Additionally, the matching engine 226 would exclude user lists 412 "owned” by User A himself, i.e. where User A has a user list membership 411 with a role of founder in such a user list 1205. The matching engine 226 adds User A as a member of each User List by creating an entry with a role of member in User List Membership 411 for each retrieved User List 1206. Note that User A is now visible to the
  • Matching engine 226 passes each match to the group component 233, which then creates for User A a user list 1207. Additionally, the matching engine 226 passes the match to the scoring engine 228 creates a "(proximity) score" 415 and assigns it to the User List Membership 411. Note that the "score” is based on the temporal distance between the respective time stamps and the “similarity” between the respective user-defined keys. In one embodiment the similarity results from the semantically or phonetically algorithm. The User Component 220 then creates the User List Membership 411 for User A with a role of founder in the new User List
  • the User Component 220 then creates for each User to be added to a user list, one User List Membership 411 with a role of member in the new User List 1209. Note that each user within the user list is now visible to the "founding" User A .
  • the Matching Engine 226 determines the User List
  • Matching Criteria 409 for User List A by looking up the Time Interval Configuration (StartTimestamp, Duration) for the specific user-defined key 404 in the Context 1210. Additionally 1211 , the scoring engine 228 creates a proximity score 415 and assigns it to the User List Membership 411. The matching engine 226 then determines if it found a Time Interval (StartTimestamp, Duration) for the user-defined key. If a Time Interval is found, then the matching engine 226 calculates a time interval (Tl) based on Start Timestamp and Duration 1212.
  • the matching engine 226 looks up a configurable Default Matching Time Interval (DMTI) and calculates Matching Time Interval (MTI) as superposition of the Default Matching Time Interval (DMTI) and Tl 1213. Otherwise, if a Time Interval is not found, it looks up a configurable DMTI and sets Matching Time Interval (MTI) to DMTI 1214.
  • DMTI configurable Default Matching Time Interval
  • MTI Matching Time Interval
  • ULMC List Matching Criteria 409 with MTI as Matching Time Interval 408 and the respective user-defined key as MatchingTimeContext 1215.
  • the matching engine 226 associates the ULMC with the created User List 1216. Note that now the matching engine 226 is able to compare the next incoming message with the User List Matching Criteria of User A's
  • the process of building community of two or more mobile communication device users includes calculating a matching probability between two or more mobile communication device users.
  • the matching probability is calculated by determining source- location 56 and receive-time 54 for at least one message sent by one of the mobile communication device users, and by determining the source- location 56 and receive-time 54 for at least one message of at least a second mobile communication device user.
  • the mobile communication device user enters a message and submits to the server 240.
  • the server 240 receives a message and parses the message, which consists of the user id (MSISDN), a timestamp, and text.
  • the matching engine 226 is invoked upon receipt of the parsed message.
  • the matching engine 226 identifies message details of the message including the context which consists of the receive timestamp, the source-location and the message components.
  • the message components include sexual orientation, color of hair, or, any other distinguishing characteristics of the other mobile communication device user.
  • the matching engine 226 identifies filter criteria including the sender's sex that has to match the encountered individual's "sexual preference" as indicated in reference to a specific encounter. This holds symmetrically for both mobile communication device users and means that each mobile communication device user wants to "see and be seen by" only those individuals who match their sexual preference.
  • Other filter criteria include the maximum temporal and the maximum geographic distance, and also each mobile communication device user's blacklist filter.
  • the blacklist filter is a part of the user component 220. The blacklists hold symmetrically for both mobile communication device users. A mobile communication device user listed in the blacklist of another mobile communication device user can't communicate with this other mobile communication device user.
  • the matching engine 226 identifies messages of other mobile communication device users that fit the identified filter criteria. The filter compares the user characteristics in two messages and computes the temporal and the geographical distances between the mobile communication device user's message and other mobile communication device users' messages.
  • the encounter probability for the mobile communication device user and the other identified mobile communication device users based on a matching probability equation P(t,r) is computed.
  • the scoring engine 228 calculates the rank of each identified message.
  • the scoring engine 228 also identifies the user profile of each identified message.
  • a message, including a list of other mobile communication device users by their ranks by the score calculated by their matching probability, is sent to the mobile communication device.
  • the mobile communication device receives and displays the message.
  • the mobile communication device user then may proceed to start a chat conversation with one or more mobile communication device users in the ranked list.
  • the list of users ranked by the score is used as the user response and received by the user in a web user interface.
  • the list of users ranked by the score is used as e-mail content and received by the user in their e-mail client.
  • the list of users ranked by the score is delivered as a message or by request to a 3 rd party.
  • Figure 7 illustrates one embodiment of a matching probability equation P(t,r).
  • a maximum value is defined for distance r max and difference in time between the time associated with the initiating event and time of a user's presence in the location, t max .
  • a function is defined along a probability curve, where the value associated with a user at the same location and time as the initiator, P(O 1 O) is 1 , and the value associated with a user at the outer limits of time and distance, P(Ua x , r max ), is 0. It is also presumed that the function is linear and continuous, such that the partial derivatives of the function with respect to r or t is always negative; the max value is at P(O 1 O), the min value is at P(Ua x . r max ), and the function is smooth in between.
  • the probability score can then be multiplied by some value in one embodiment, or weighted such that high probabilities get very high scores and low probabilities get very low scores.
  • the resulting scores can then be presented to the user as a multi-digit integer value, for instance between 01 and 99 where 01 is the lowest and 99 is the highest.
  • One embodiment of the matching probability equation P(t,r) is:
  • D 810 is the same distance that B was from A, but responded at a much later time.
  • the scoring algorithm has placed D with a low score, hence a low probability region.
  • B is close to C and sent the message close in time to Cs 813, so B is in a high score region relative to C 806.
  • a 805 and D 810 are both in a medium score region relative 809.
  • Figure 9A shows a sample web interface login screen 650.
  • a user would enter his phone number 652 along with a password 654, and then press the login button 656 to initiate a session.
  • the login screen 650 would have a user entering a user defined identification string which the user previously associated with his or her user account along with a valid phone number.
  • the digital certificate may be used for login.
  • Figure 9B illustrates, in one embodiment, a session where a user acted as an initiator to send a message and is looking for another individual who they met at a location 405 where they sent the message 670.
  • the system prompts the user to tell it where he was, given the date and time of the message 680.
  • the system has an approximate position shown on a map 672 and a hint that the user sent with the message to help pinpoint the position 678.
  • the user selects the location 405 on the map which approximates where they were to greater accuracy, and selects one or more characteristics from a set of lists 674 presented to the user, which in this embodiment shows gender.
  • Figure 10A shows an embodiment of a user list screen 710 which shows the list of users ranked by the score. Once the user selects location 405, time 406, and general characteristics 670 of the person the user is looking for, the user is presented with a representation of the list
  • Figure 10B shows an embodiment of what a specific thread display would look like 760.
  • a user selects a thread from the group of threads 716, and then sees the detailed conversation 762.
  • a user may then respond and send a new message to the person 766, or blacklist the person and block any further communication 764.
  • inventions of the present invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations including hand-held devices, microprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers and the like.
  • the invention may also be practiced in distributing computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a network.
  • the invention may employ various computer-implemented operations involving data stored in computer systems. These operations are those requiring physical manipulation of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. Further, the manipulations performed are often referred to in terms, such as producing, identifying, determining, or comparing.
  • the invention also relates to a device or an apparatus for performing these operations.
  • the apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, such as the carrier network discussed above, or it may be a general purpose computer selectively activated or configured by a computer program stored in the computer.
  • various general purpose machines may be used with computer programs written in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may be more convenient to construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the required operations.
  • the invention can also be embodied as computer readable code on a computer readable medium.
  • the computer readable medium is any data storage device that can store data, which can thereafter be read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable medium include hard drives, network attached storage (NAS), read-only memory, random-access memory, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs, Flash, magnetic tapes, and other optical and non-optical data storage devices.
  • the computer readable medium can also be distributed over a network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

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Abstract

La présente invention concerne un procédé pour établir une communauté comprenant un premier et un deuxième utilisateurs de dispositifs de communication mobile. Le procédé met en jeu la réception d'un premier message venant du premier utilisateur de dispositif de communication mobile et la réception d'un deuxième message venant du deuxième utilisateur de dispositif de communication mobile. Le procédé met aussi en jeu l'analyse des premier et deuxième messages pour déterminer l'identifiant d'un premier utilisateur et une première clé générée par utilisateur ainsi qu'un deuxième identifiant d'utilisateur et une deuxième clé générée par utilisateur respectivement. Par ailleurs, le procédé fait intervenir le calcul d'une probabilité de correspondance entre les premier et deuxième utilisateurs de dispositifs de communication mobile sur la base d'au moins une proximité de distance, d'une proximité temporelle de réception de messages, et d'une correspondance des clés générées par utilisateur.
PCT/EP2007/007072 2006-08-09 2007-08-09 Procédés et systèmes pour établir des relations entre des utilisateurs de dispositifs de communication mobile WO2008017488A2 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

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DE102006037250.6 2006-08-09
DE102006037250A DE102006037250A1 (de) 2006-08-09 2006-08-09 Verfahren und Vorrichtungen zur Identitätsverifikation
US11/831,959 US20080039121A1 (en) 2006-08-09 2007-08-01 Methods and Systems for Establishing Relationships Between Mobile Communication Device Users
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Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5086394A (en) * 1989-05-12 1992-02-04 Shmuel Shapira Introduction system for locating compatible persons
WO2000022860A1 (fr) * 1998-10-12 2000-04-20 Janus Friis Degnbol Procede et systeme permettant de transmettre des donnees entre des unites
GB2375921A (en) * 2001-05-23 2002-11-27 Int Computers Ltd Location-based matching service
GB2388493A (en) * 2002-05-08 2003-11-12 Charles Peter William Hornsby Location based matchmaking using mobile access devices
US20040002348A1 (en) * 1999-08-24 2004-01-01 Federico Fraccaroli Mobile communications matching system

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5086394A (en) * 1989-05-12 1992-02-04 Shmuel Shapira Introduction system for locating compatible persons
WO2000022860A1 (fr) * 1998-10-12 2000-04-20 Janus Friis Degnbol Procede et systeme permettant de transmettre des donnees entre des unites
US20040002348A1 (en) * 1999-08-24 2004-01-01 Federico Fraccaroli Mobile communications matching system
GB2375921A (en) * 2001-05-23 2002-11-27 Int Computers Ltd Location-based matching service
GB2388493A (en) * 2002-05-08 2003-11-12 Charles Peter William Hornsby Location based matchmaking using mobile access devices

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