Patent ID: 9189567
Filing Date: 2015-11-17
Classification: G06F,G06Q,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: providing a service accessible through the Internet to client devices, the service presenting a social graph; providing in the social graph a first type of node, referred to as a user-provided node, and a first type of edge, referred to as a user-provided edge; providing in the social graph a second type of node, referred to as a system-provided node, and a second type of edge, referred to as a system-provided edge, wherein at least two user-provided nodes of the social graph comprises one degree of separation from at least one system-provided node of the social graph; using at least one electronic processor, managing the social graph data structure comprising: allowing system-provided nodes to be coupled to other system-provided nodes by system-provided edges, wherein system-provided nodes and system-provided edges include information gathered by the system; allowing user-provided nodes to be coupled to system-provided nodes by user-provided edges include information gathered by users of the service; disallowing user-provided nodes from being coupled to other user-provided nodes or to system-provided nodes using system-provided edges; and disallowing system-provided nodes from being coupled to other system-provided nodes using user-provided edges; generating in the social graph a first user-provided node corresponding to a first user; receiving a notification from the first user that the first user has a connection to a first person corresponding to a first system-provided node; generating in the social graph a first user-provided edge coupling the first user-provided node to the first system-provided node; allowing the first user to enter information identifying the first system-provided node and a second system-provided node, wherein the second system-provided node represents a second person, and the first and the second system-provided nodes are separated by at least two degrees of separation in the social graph; generating a first path wherein the first path comprises at least two nodes connecting the first person with the second person through a first plurality of edges in the social graph; using at least one computer processor, calculating a weight of the first path using a function wherein and |p| represents a length of the path and p(w) represents weights of edges of a path; and based on the weight of the first path, indicating to the first user a likelihood that the first and second persons know each other.