Abstract:
In order to facilitate creation of a community without member-specific registration, one or more sibling identifiers with corresponding units to be distributed to other persons are allocated to a subscriber and the one or more sibling identifiers is associated with the subscriber&#39;s identifier. The subscriber may then give a unit to his/her friend and when the friend uses the unit, or more precisely a sibling identifier the unit relates to, the system will recognize that the subscriber and the friend belong to the same community on the basis of the association formed when sibling identifiers were allocated.

Description:
[0001]     This application is a Continuation of International Application PCT/FI2006/050356. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to creation of a virtual community in a communication system.  
       BACKGROUND INFORMATION  
       [0003]     Due to the extension of the Internet and evolvement of communication technology, people are more and more often sharing information within virtual communities using services provided by and/or via the Internet. A virtual community is a place where the members of the community exchange messages with each other, said messages being text messages, voice messages, video messages, different types of multimedia messages, etc. Some examples of a virtual community (hereinafter called a community) include “buddy list” type of lists of friends in instant messaging, address books in email applications or chat room membership lists. There are several ways to form a community when the Internet, or any other software based mechanism requiring user registration, is used. However, there is no mechanism to form a community without each member&#39;s specific registration to join the community, and using identifiers relating to units identifiable by a communication system.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     An object of the present invention is thus to provide a method and an apparatus for implementing the method so as to provide a mechanism to form a community using units identifiable by a communication system. The object of the invention is achieved by a method, a computer program product, a server component and a system which are characterized by what is stated in the independent claims. The preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.  
         [0005]     The invention is based on the realization of the problem and solving it by allocating a subscriber one or more sibling identifiers with corresponding units to be distributed to other persons and associating the one or more sibling identifiers with the subscriber&#39;s identifier. The subscriber may then give a unit to his/her friend and when the friend uses the unit, or more precisely a sibling identifier the unit relates to, the system will recognize that the subscriber and the friend belong to the same community on the basis of the association formed when sibling identifiers were allocated.  
         [0006]     An advantage of the invention is that a community is formed without any specific registration of each community member: it suffices that sibling identifiers are requested, the user of a unit relating to the sibling identifier needs not perform any specific action to join the community. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]     In the following the invention will be described in greater detail by means of embodiments with reference to the attached drawings, in which  
         [0008]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example of a general architecture of a communication system;  
         [0009]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a server according to an embodiment;  
         [0010]      FIG. 3  illustrates exemplary data structures;  
         [0011]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating creation of a community in one embodiment of the invention; and  
         [0012]      FIGS. 5, 6  and  7  are flow charts illustrating embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0013]     The following embodiments are exemplary. Although the specification may refer to “an”, “one”, or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations, this does not necessarily mean that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment.  
         [0014]     The present invention is applicable to any user terminal, server and/or to any communication system or any combination of different communication systems that can identify users and/or terminals by identifiers on units, or allocated for the units or on the basis of information on the units. The communication system may be a fixed communication system or a wireless communication system or a communication system utilizing both fixed networks and wireless networks. The protocols used, the specifications of communication systems, servers and user terminals, especially in wireless communication, develop rapidly. Such development may require extra changes to the invention. Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly and they are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the invention.  
         [0015]     In the following, different embodiments of the invention will be described using mobile phone technology as an example without restricting the invention thereto.  
         [0016]     A general architecture of a communication system being capable of providing a social networking service is illustrated in  FIG. 1 .  FIG. 1  is a simplified system architecture only showing some elements and functional entities, all being logical units whose implementation may differ from what is shown. The connections shown in  FIG. 1  are logical connections; the actual physical connections may be different. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the systems also comprise other functions, interfaces, and structures. It should be appreciated that the functions, interfaces, structures, elements and the protocols used in or for mobile phone communication, or any other corresponding communication, are irrelevant to the actual invention. Therefore, they need not be discussed in more detail here.  
         [0017]     The communication system  100  in  FIG. 1  comprises user terminals  300 ,  300 ′,  300 ″ connectable via a wireless network  400  to a server  200  providing a social networking service. A social network service is focused on the building and verifying of social networks, i.e. communities, for whatever purpose. Examples of a social networking service include one or more of the following: creation of a virtual community, maintenance of the virtual community, information delivery within the virtual community, and enabling services and service delivery to the virtual community.  
         [0018]     A user terminal  300 ,  300 ′,  300 ″ is a piece of equipment or a device that comprises, or is arranged to comprise, a unit MIM 1 , MIM 2 , MIM 3  with an identifier and allows a user to interact with a communications system directly or via a computer system and/or via a non-data-processing device, for example. The user terminal presents information to the user and allows the user to input information. In other words, the user terminal  300 ,  300 ′,  300 ″ may be any node or a host which is able to communicate with a network  400  of the system, over an access network (not shown in  FIG. 1 ) if such an access network exists. The user terminal  300 ,  300 ′,  300 ″ may be any terminal capable of being provided with an identifier allocated by a service provider and capable of receiving information from and/or transmitting information to the network, such as a personal computer, a game console, a laptop (a notebook), a personal digital assistant, a mobile station (mobile phone), a line telephone, connected to the network  400  wirelessly or via a fixed connection. The unit MIM 1 , MIM 2 , MIM 3  with an identifier may be embedded or downloaded software and/or hardware. Examples of the unit MIM 1 , MIM 2 , MIM 3  include a card, such as a smart card, or corresponding module, comprising the identifier, and a user terminal with an integrally embedded identifier. Examples of different identifiers include subscriber identities allocated by operators, such as IMSI (international mobile subscriber identity), which is a unique number associated with a subscriber, IMEI (international mobile station equipment identity), a telephone number, a personal unblocking code, a smart card serial number and a smart card identity number. The identifier may be in any format and have any name and may be any piece of information or code that may take any suitable desired form, such as numeric, alphanumeric, ASCII, graphic, iconic or other machine-readable codes, or combinations of the foregoing. The identifier is preferably either sent by the user terminal to the network when the user terminal registers to the network or deduced by the system on the basis of an identifier sent by the user terminal to the network when the user terminal registers to the network. In embodiments where a card is used as the unit with an identifier, the card may be detachably connectable to the user terminal, either as a contact card or a contactless card.  
         [0019]     The server  200  represents one or more servers, or server components, or apparatuses, providing social networking services and/or communications services. In addition, the server  200  may utilize community information for different purposes, such as for marketing. The server  200  is illustrated in detail below with FIGS.  2  to  7 .  
         [0020]     In the following, different embodiments illustrating server operations are described using MIM as an example of an identifier without restricting the invention thereto. It should also be appreciated that the server operations may be implemented in one or more physical or logical entities.  
         [0021]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a server, or a corresponding server component, according to an embodiment of the invention. Although the server has been depicted as one entity, different modules and databases/memory may be implemented in one or more physical or logical entities. The server  200  is configured to manage data on communities created by a service provider&#39;s subscribers or their siblings with the help of the service provider, as will be described below. For this purpose, the server comprises data storage  20  with a MIM database  201  for storing information on the service provider&#39;s MIMs, a sibling database  202  for storing information on created communities, a subscriber database  203  for storing subscriber information, a service provider unit  21  for providing community services, a receiving unit  221  for receiving different inputs, information and messages, and a sending unit  222  for sending different outputs, information and messages.  
         [0022]     The service provider unit  21  comprises a MIM allocation unit  211  for managing MIMs the service provider has received and for allocating MIMs, an update unit  212  for updating data in the databases, a monitor unit  213  for monitoring whether or not one or more certain actions, such as updating data, take place and for performing functions relating to the actions, and a filter unit  214  for filtering information from the databases. The functionality of the MIM allocation unit  211  is described in more detail below with Figures, especially with  FIG. 4 . The functionality of the update unit  212  and the functionality of the monitor unit  213  are described in more detail below with Figures, especially with  FIG. 5 . The filtering unit  214  may be configured to filter different information from the database(s), such as creators of communities (creators being MIMs that are no one&#39;s siblings), members of communities with certain preferences or user profiles, linkages between communities, users having communities that are among 10 (or any number) strongest or widest communities, etc. In other words, the filtering unit enables different database searches, an example of which is illustrated with  FIG. 7 .  
         [0023]     It should be appreciated that the service provider unit may comprise other units used in or for the social networking service and/or communication service, such as a unit providing information exchange within a community. However, they are irrelevant to the actual invention and, therefore, they need not to be discussed in more detail here.  
         [0024]     The server may be configured as a computer including at least a memory providing storage area used for arithmetic operation and an operation processor for executing the arithmetic operation. The service provider unit  21  may be configured as a program executed by the operation processor, for example a central processing unit. The databases mentioned above may be located in the memory and data in the databases is explained in more detail below with  FIG. 3 .  
         [0025]     In other words, the servers or corresponding server components and/or other corresponding devices implementing the functionality of an embodiment comprise not only prior art means, such as sending means and receiving means, but also means for implementing one or more functions described here with an embodiment. Present servers comprise processors and memory that can be utilized in the functions according to an embodiment of the invention. All modifications and configurations required for implementing an embodiment of the invention may be performed as routines, which may be implemented as added or updated software routines, application circuits (ASIC) and/or programmable circuits. Software routines, also called program products, including applets and macros, can be stored in any server-readable data storage medium and they include program instructions to perform particular tasks. Software routines may be downloaded into a server.  
         [0026]      FIG. 3  illustrates examples of data structures  3  according to an embodiment of the invention, the data structures  3  being maintained and/or accessible by one or more servers and stored in one or more databases. For example, a MIM table  301  may be stored in the MIM database illustrated in  FIG. 2 , a sibling table  302  may be stored in the sibling database illustrated in  FIG. 2 , and, correspondingly, a subscriber information table may be stored in the subscriber database illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Furthermore, it is possible to organize the data structures differently, combine them or parts of them, and/or store some data elsewhere. For example, parts of the data in the subscriber information table may be stored in a home subscriber database, such as a home location register. Here the row below column titles illustrates an entry.  
         [0027]     The MIM table  301  contains MIM identifiers  31  stored in the system, thereby indicating that the corresponding units are ready to be allocated and delivered. In other words, the service provider preferably stores the MIM identifiers the service provider has, prior to allocating them and prior to delivering corresponding units. However, MIM identifiers may be stored when allocated and/or during the delivery. The MIM table  301  associates a MIM identifier  31  with availability information  32  on the MIM identifier in question and with status information  33  on the MIM identifier in question. The availability information  32  indicates whether or not the MIM is free to be allocated: undelivered means free, and delivered means not free but allocated to be used in the example of  FIG. 3 . The status information  33  indicates whether or not the unit comprising the MIM has been used: active means that it has been used, passive means that it has not been used in the example of  FIG. 3 . The status information  33  may be used for other purposes, too.  
         [0028]     The sibling table  302  associates different MIMs to a community by associating a primary identifier  36  in an entry with zero or more sibling identifiers  37 . In the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the sibling table further comprises additional information relating to the owner, or subscriber, of the primary identifier (and the corresponding unit), thereby adding some extra information on the community. In the example of  FIG. 3 , the additional information comprises the user&#39;s name  34  and preferences  35 . A service provider providing the social networking service may define what information the additional information comprises, and it may be anything the service provider considers as useful information, naturally within the local laws. Other examples of the additional information include hobbies and user profiles. The service provider may also define that no additional information is stored in the sibling table. As can be seen, in the embodiment of  FIG. 3 , an active sibling MIM 2 , has also been added to be a primary identifier without any siblings and with some additional information copied from the primary identifier&#39;s additional information (i.e. preferences of MIM 1  are copied to be preferences of MIM 2 ).  
         [0029]     The subscriber information table  303  associates the primary identifier  36 ′ with subscriber information, such as name  34 ′, address  38 , preferences  35 ′ and credit  39 . In this example, the subscriber information table  303  contains information received from the user (subscriber) and no copied information and some of the information overlaps with the sibling table. In some other embodiments, the subscriber information table and the sibling table may be merged together, or they may be separate tables without overlapping information, except the MIM identity, or any other reliable key with which information may be searched.  
         [0030]     It should be appreciated that data structures according to other embodiments of the invention may comprise only some of the data described above, and/or further data not described above. It suffices that primary and sibling MIMs are associated with each other.  
         [0031]     From the data structures of  FIG. 3 , the following information may be deduced: The service provider has n MIM identifiers, and corresponding units; MIM 1 , MIM 2  and MIM 3  with corresponding units are delivered to the user A.N. who has updated, or otherwise filled his/her subscriber information, MIM 2  and MIM 3  being siblings of MIM 1 ; MIM 2  has been taken into use without filling or updating the subscriber information and therefore preferences relating to MIM 1  are used in the sibling table; and that MIM 3  has not yet been taken into use.  
         [0032]      FIG. 4  is a flow chart illustrating creation of sibling MIMs according to an embodiment. In the embodiment, it is assumed that in response to filling subscriber information, MIM will become a primary with no siblings and that sibling MIMs can be used, at least for some time, without filling the subscriber information. A further assumption made here, for the sake of clarity, is that the MIM requesting siblings, i.e. a requesting MIM, is a delivered one. In other words, it is assumed that the requesting MIM is a valid MIM.  
         [0033]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , a request for sibling MIMs is received or otherwise detected in step  401 . The request may be an implicit request triggered by a predefined event which depends on implementation and service provider definitions, policies, rules, etc., or the request may be an explicit event received from the user of the primary MIM. Examples of events triggering the request include a primary MIM registering to the service, i.e. giving the service provider required subscriber information, as the primary MIM having used the service so that he/she will be charged a certain amount of money, all previous siblings of the primary MIM having been activated, etc. However, it bears no significance to the invention how and why a sibling request is detected/received.  
         [0034]     In response to the request, requested MIMs are allocated in step  402 . The number of MIMs to be allocated may be indicated in the request, it may depend on the event that triggered the request, and/or it may always be a predefined number, for example two siblings per request. The process then continues depending on whether or not the requesting MIM is a primary MIM.  
         [0035]     If the requesting MIM is not a primary MIM (step  403 ), subscriber information on the requesting MIM is requested in step  404 , and received in step  405 , after which the subscriber information is updated in step  406 , and an entry having the requesting MIM as the primary MIM is added to a sibling table in step  407 . Then the allocated MIMs are associated with the requesting MIM by adding them to the siblings of the requesting MIM to the sibling table in step  408 . Then the units are ready to be delivered to the user of the requesting MIM so that he/she can give them to his/her friends, for example. However, the way the units with identifiers are delivered and/or distributed to the user(s) bears no significance to the invention and therefore it is not described in detail here.  
         [0036]     If the requesting MIM is a primary MIM (step  403 ), the process proceeds directly to step  408  where siblings are added to the sibling table.  
         [0037]     As can be seen from the above, the sibling table of the above embodiment forms a tree structure which defines a wider community comprising several entries linked to each other. It also facilitates adding levels usable as filtering criteria, for example, to a community.  
         [0038]     In another embodiment of the invention, if the requesting MIM is a primary MIM, he/she will be given an opportunity to decide whether to add the siblings to the existing entry or whether another entry should be added, the other entry comprising the requesting MIM as a primary MIM, and the allocated ones as siblings. For this new entry, the requesting MIM may give other additional information than what exists in the older entry/entries, thus enabling establishment of different communities.  
         [0039]      FIG. 5  illustrates a flow chart of an embodiment of the invention in a situation in which a sibling unit, and thereby a sibling identifier, is taken into use by the one who received it. The user of the unit has, for example, switched on a mobile phone comprising the identifier itself or a mobile identifier module comprising the identifier, and therefore the mobile phone registers to a network and, during registration, sends the identifier, or information on the basis of which the identifier is received. A further assumption made here is that a server, or a server system, according to the embodiment corresponds to a home location server or home location register from which the system enquires subscriber information when a user terminal attaches to the system.  
         [0040]     Referring to  FIG. 5 , it is noticed, in step  501 , that a sibling MIM X has been taken into use, and therefore MIM X&#39;s status is updated to active in step  502 , an entry is added in step  503  to a sibling table, said entry having MIM X as a primary MIM. Then predetermined parts of the additional information on the primary MIM whose sibling MIM X is copied in step  504  to the entry to be the additional information on MIM X. For example, if the sibling table is the one illustrated in  FIG. 3 , a service provider may have determined that the preferences are copied but the name is not copied. Then it is monitored in step  505  whether or not the user of MIM X registers to the social networking service, i.e. whether or not he/she updates subscriber information, such as name and address, or recharges money to a prepaid account, within a predefined rule. The service provider may define what subscriber information needs to be updated and within which time limit it needs to be updated. The service provider may also define the point from which the time starts to run, examples of such points including the activation of the MIM X, the allocation of the MIM X, and the actual delivery date of the corresponding unit. The monitoring (step  505 ) is continued until the information is updated ( 506 ) or the time described above expires (step  508 ), whichever happens first. If the information is updated (step  506 ), the updated information is stored in step  507 . If the time expires ( 508 ) without the subscriber information being updated, the user of MIM X is requested in step  509  to update the information. If the information is updated (step  510 ), the updated information is stored in step  507 . If the information is not updated (step  510 ), the use of MIM X is restricted in step  511 . The status of the MIM may also be changed to restricted and/or the entry added in step  503  with corresponding additional information may be deleted or otherwise emptied. The use may be restricted so that a user terminal with MIM X can only be used for registering to the service in addition to emergency calls.  
         [0041]     As can be seen from the above, no specific action is requested by the user of the user terminal with MIM X to become a member of a community. By copying the primary&#39;s references, some information for advertisement purposes, for example, will be stored, and probably no serious mistakes will occur, since typically friends share similar interests.  
         [0042]     In one embodiment of the invention, no monitoring is performed. In embodiments comprising monitoring, the service provider may determine what happens if the subscriber information is not updated within a certain time limit and/or after the enquiry. The use may also be restricted step by step depending on time or on the amount of the use and/or for what it is used (sending messages, receiving calls/messages, for example). Further, instead of or in addition to monitoring subscriber information update, the service provider may define something else to be monitored and a predefined rule, and/or a set of rules, within which updating or “the something else” has to be performed.  
         [0043]      FIG. 6  illustrates a flow chart of an embodiment of the invention in which the subscriber&#39;s ability to order services is controlled. The embodiment may be implemented by a monitoring unit, for example. In the example of  FIG. 6 , it is assumed, for the sake of clarity, that the number of siblings MIMs is limited to a certain predefined number, and that information on the number of allocated siblings is maintained in subscriber information. It should be appreciated that the service provider may define any rules or definitions for any service it provides. Another example of such a rule/definition is that if a certain number of sibling MIMs, although taken into use, have no updated subscriber information, no further sibling MIMs are allocated.  
         [0044]     Referring to  FIG. 6 , a service request is received in step  601 , said service request being an order of a certain number of sibling MIMs from the user of MIM Y. Firstly, it is checked in step  602  whether or not the user of MIM Y has registered to the social networking service, i.e. whether or not he/she has updated subscriber information. If the subscriber information is updated (step  602 ), it is checked in step  603  whether or not the number of sibling MIMs, when the ordered number of sibling MIMs are added to the information on the number maintained in the subscriber information on MIM Y, exceeds a predefined limit. If it does not, the service is provided in step  604 , for example as illustrated above with  FIG. 4 , including updating the number maintained in the subscriber information. If the number exceeds a predefined limit (step  603 ), the service request is rejected in step  605 . In other embodiments, some other actions may be performed instead, or in addition to step  605 .  
         [0045]     If the subscriber information has not been updated (step  602 ), the user is requested in step  606  to update the subscriber information. If the subscriber information is updated (step  607 ), the process continues to step  603  in which the number of sibling MIMs is compared with a predefined limit. If the subscriber information is not updated (step  607 ), the process continues to step  605 , in which the request is rejected.  
         [0046]      FIG. 7  illustrates a flow chart according to an embodiment of the invention, in which members belonging to a community of a certain subscriber are searched. In the example, it is assumed that data structures illustrated in  FIG. 3  are used in the search.  
         [0047]     Referring to  FIG. 7 , when a request to find a community of MIM Z, i.e. members belonging to the same community with MIM Z, is received in step  701 , entries having MIM Z either as a primary MIM or as one of the siblings are searched in step  702  from the sibling database. Then the status of MIMs in each found entry is determined MIM-specifically in step  703  from the MIM table and those MIMs whose status is active are filtered in step  704  and the filtered MIMs, preferably including MIM Z, are sent in step  705  in a response to the request as the members belonging to community.  
         [0048]     The steps and related functions described above in  FIGS. 4, 5 ,  6  and  7  are in no absolute chronological order, and some of the steps may be performed simultaneously or in an order differing from the given one. Other functions can also be executed between the steps or within the steps. Some of the steps or part of the steps can also be left out or replaced by a corresponding step or part of the step.  
         [0049]     Information on established communities may be used when users communicate within their community, or for different information delivery purposes, or for social service activation purposes. For example, a service provider and/or a member can use the information to provide specific mobile services, such as group communication, to a community, or advertises may use the information to select to whom marketing messages will be sent, i.e. to target the marketing messages. Targeting may be finding communities having certain preferences, finding out subscribers who are central in their social networks, sending one marketing message to each community or sending n messages to cover x % of each community, for example. With this targeting, e.g. sending one message to a central subscriber in a community instead of sending a message to each member of the community, marketing costs as well as messages to cover x % of each community, for example. With this targeting, e.g. sending one message to a central subscriber in a community instead of sending a message to each member of the community, marketing costs as well as network load may be reduced without substantially reducing the effectiveness of marketing.  
         [0050]     A service provider may save costs because in some embodiments there is no need to maintain a separate register on relationships between subscribers, there is no need to request information on the relationships from the user, and there is no need to have specific campaigns, for example by offering cheaper short messages within friends specified by a subscriber, for finding out the communities.  
         [0051]     It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as the technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are not limited to the examples described above but may vary within the scope of the claims.