Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Paul A Elliott

Bhupinder Singh Sethi

Michelle M Aleong

Kjetil Krogvig Bergstrand

Eric J Zappa

Fernando Garcia Valenzuela

Jason Fergus Moore

Oludare Victor Obasanjo

Omar H Shahine

Jeffrey Craig Kunins

Douglas Ray Pearce

Patrick Moulhaud

Stephen P Rosato

Suresh Kannan

Alexey Volkov

Kevin Bellinger

Pak H Ko

Jason Kahn

Weston Haught

Cleve Littlefield

Kim Manis

Kjetil Bergstrand

A computer-implemented method for determining a crowdsourced association between a first user identifier, and a second user identifier for a user of a service accessible over a network. Service data are searched to identify users of the service having a potential association with the first user identifier. Users of the service are invited in turn to select one of the identified users in relation to the first user identifier. A tier of linkage is determined, from at least two defined tiers, between a user making the selection and the selected user. A vote is recorded, of the determined tier, for the selection. A threshold is assigned to votes according to the tier of linkage so that if the votes of at least one of the defined tiers achieves its assigned threshold, it may be determined whether the first user identifier is associated with the respective second user identifier.

Crowdsourcing content associations in a profile-hosting system

Computing systems and processes of creating provisional account profiles of users are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a computing system is configured to detect at least one ingoing or outgoing communication to or from a first globally unique identifier of a first user that has not already linked to an account of said service. In response to said detection, the computing system is configured to create a provisional user profile for the first user linked to the first globally unique identifier and gather public information associated with the first user from one or more third-party sources outside said service. When the first user joins said service, the computing system can be configured to allocate the provisional user profile to an account belonging to the first user linked to the first globally unique identifier.

System and method of creating provisional account profiles

Social network search techniques are described. In an implementation, one or more search criteria are stored that are usable to search for users of a social network service. Responsive to a new user joining the social network service, a search of data associated with the new user is performed using the stored one or more search criteria to determine whether the one or more search criteria are met by the new user.

Social network search

A relationship-based communications service system receives a communication from a source destined to a recipient. The recipient is capable of receiving the communication at a computing device. The communication service system determines a first relationship type based on a satisfied relationship condition between the source and the recipient. The communications service system sends a relationship-qualified version of the communication to the recipient based on the determined first relationship type. The relationship-qualified version of the communication of the determined first relationship type is annotated to present a different user interface behavior to the recipient at the computing device than a relationship-qualified version of the communication of a second relationship type.

Communications control for resource constrained devices

Techniques are described to establish one-way public relationships. In an implementation, a service manager module is usable to configure a webpage for output to a client over a network to provide to a user of the client an indication of others users that are part of a social network of the user and have establishes one-way public relationships, respectively, with another user corresponding to an object of a social networking service available from a service provider. In addition, a relation module is configured to establish a one-way public relationship between the user of the client and the other user corresponding to the object without establishing a mutual friend relationship between the user and the other user. In an implementation, the one-way public relationship is established in response to user selection of a control that is presented on the webpage that is output at the client in conjunction with the object.

One-way public relationships

Information aggregation techniques are described. In an implementation, a communication is received that includes an indication of a source of information associated with a non-member of the social network. Information associated with the non-member is aggregated from the source. The aggregation may be performed in response to receipt of a selection by a member of the social network service to interact with the information from the source. The aggregated information may then be presented to a member in conjunction with webpages output for interaction with the social network.

Information aggregation service

Techniques are described to establish one-way public relationships. In an implementation, a control is exposed that is operable to become a fan of an object within a social networking page. Responsive to operation of the control, data may be stored to establish a one-way public relationship between a user and the selected object. By establishing a one-way public relationship rather than a mutual friend relationship, the object and/or a corresponding owner of the object is not included in the user's social network and is not provided access to the user's profile, status, or other personal information. The one-way public relationship may be employed by a service provider to serve content related to the object to the user. The one-way public relationships may also be employed by the service provider to push status updates regarding the object to 'fans' of the object.

Systems, methods, apparatus, data structures, and computer-readable media are described which provide techniques for managing data storage. In an implementation, a method includes examining a role map to determine which of a plurality of roles are applicable to a request to interact with at least one of a plurality of items. The request is received via an application programming interface (API) that is available over a network and one or more of the items reference a respective item of data. Access to the at least one item is permitted based on a role definition which describes differing access rights available for the item based on which of the roles is applicable to the request.

Growing community of inventors

Woodinville, WA, United States of America

Paul A Elliott