Patent ID: 7689537

Claim:
A method for inferring a contact, comprising steps executed by a processor and a memory operatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions executable for: providing a social network for an organization, the social network including a plurality of nodes and links, each node representing a member of the organization and each link representing a relationship between a pair of the nodes; receiving a request by a requesting member of the organization for a required type of contact; inferring a dominating contact to the requesting member by searching the social network in increasing distance along a plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member, wherein each dimension comprises a different hierarchy in the social network, wherein the distance comprises an aggregate distance across the plurality of dimensions, wherein the dominating contact is a shorter distance from one of the nodes than a non-dominating contact in all of the plurality of dimensions, and wherein the dominating contact is a strictly shorter distance from the one of the nodes than the non-dominating contact in at least one of the plurality of dimensions; establishing an upper bound on the distance in each of the plurality of dimensions when a required type of dominating contact is discovered; and displaying the inferred dominating contact to the requesting member.