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US 2021/0264485 A1Published application
Apparatus, system, and method for electronic social interaction
OwnerStacy Heiliginventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for providing referrals for jobs and services includes a profile association module that identifies relationships between user profiles of a second degree or greater based on first-degree relationships identified by users and a search module configured conduct a search of user profiles based on a query provided by a user. The system includes a messaging module that receives from a user a referral request directed to one or more friends of the user identified by the search module as having a predetermined degree of relationship with another user being among the search results from the search module.
Claims20
A system, comprising:
- a user profile module configured to store user profiles, the user profiles identifying, for at least one user, a good provided by, or service performed by, the user and a friend of the user, the friend being another user identified by the user as having a first-degree relationship;
- a profile association module configured to identify relationships between the user profiles of a second degree or greater based on the first-degree relationships identified by the users and to provide the identified relationships to the user profile module;
- a search module configured to receive from a first user a search query including a good or service to be provided to, or performed for, the first user, to search the profile module for other users offering the corresponding good or service and being within a predetermined degree of relationship with the first user, and to return one or more search results satisfying the search query to the first user, the one or more search results including an indicator of the degree of relationship between other users in the one or more search results and the first user;
- and
- a messaging module configured to receive from the first user a referral request directed to one or more friends of the first user identified by the search module as having a predetermined degree of relationship with a second user being among the search results from the search module.
2 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- a user interface configured to receive from a user a first user a search query including a good to be provided or a service to be performed for the first user, and a desired degree of relationship between the user and a qualifying search result;
- a transmission module to transmit the search query to a remote server and receive from the remote server one or more search results;
- a display device configured to display the one or more search results, including identifying information of a second user among the one or more search results, and a degree of relationship between the second user and the first user;
- and
- a messaging module configured to receive from the first user via the user interface a referral request directed to one or more friends of the first user identified in the search results as having a predetermined degree of relationship with a second user being among the search results.
2 more elements
A method, comprising:
- storing user profiles identifying, for at least one user among the user profiles, a good provided by, or service performed by, the user and a friend of the user, the friend being another user identified by the user as having a first-degree relationship with the user;
- identifying relationships between the user profiles of a second degree or greater based on the first-degree relationships identified by the users and providing the identified relationships to the user profile module;
- receiving from a first user a search query including a good to be provided to, or a service to be performed for, the first user;
- searching the user profiles for other users providing the corresponding good or service and being within a predetermined degree of relationship with the first user;
- returning one or more search results satisfying the search query to the first user, the one or more search results including an indicator of the degree of relationship between other users in the one or more search results and the first user;
- receiving from the first user a referral request directed to one or more friends of the first user identified by the search module as having a predetermined degree of relationship with a second user being among the search results from the search module;
- and
- transmitting a referral request message to the one or more friends of the first user.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.