# US 9,519,683 B1 · Inferring social affinity based on interactions with search results > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,519,683 B1 - Document ID: US9519683B1 - Status: Granted - Kind: B1 - Application number: 13/604,818 - Filed: 2012-09-06 - Granted: 2016-12-13 - Earliest claimed: 2011-09-06 - Assignees: Google Inc. - Applicants: Sumitro Samaddar; Matthew E. Kulick; Maureen Heymans - Inventors: Sumitro Samaddar; Matthew E. Kulick; Maureen Heymans - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9519683B1 ## CPC - G06F 16/9535: Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation - G06F 16/951: Indexing; Web crawling techniques - G06F 16/9536: Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering - G06F 16/9538: Presentation of query results - G06Q 10/42: Determination of affinities or common interests between users - G06Q 10/48: using social graphs - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract Techniques for inferring social affinity may include the following operations: obtaining information derived from online activity of a first party, where the online activity includes searches initiated by the first party, and where the information specifies interaction of the first party with content accessed through the online activity; determining, based on the information, that an amount of the interaction of the first party with the content exceeds a threshold; following the determining, identifying a second party who provided the content; adjusting, in a social graph for the first party, an affinity of the second party to the first party based on the amount of the interaction with the content; and using the affinity to promote search results output to the first party that contain content that is provided by the second party. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method performed by one or more processing devices, comprising: obtaining information derived from a search initiated by a first party, the information specifying i) particular content retrieved from one or more network resources identified by the search, the particular content associated with a subject, and ii) one or more interactions by the first party with the particular content; determining, based on the information, that an amount of the interaction of the first party with the particular content satisfies a threshold; in response to determining that the interaction of the first party with the particular content satisfies the threshold, identifying a second party that authored the particular content; determining that the first party has a pre-existing social connection with the second party in a social graph associated with the first party; in response to determining that the first party has the pre-existing social connection with the second party, adjusting, in the social graph associated with the first party, an affinity for the particular content associated with the second party with respect to the first party based on the amount of the interaction with the content authored by the second party; and updating search result rankings based on the affinity for the particular content to promote one or more first search results provided to the first party that contain additional content authored by the second party and ii) associated with the subject, while maintaining a ranking of one or more second search results provided to the first party that contain additional content i) authored by the second party and ii) independent of association with the subject. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the affinity is a positive affinity, and wherein updating the search result rankings further comprises ranking the one or more first search results as being more relevant than remaining search results. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein updating the search result rankings further comprises updating the search results rankings based on relevance to search terms in the additional content authored by the second party. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the interaction comprises failure to select the particular content and, as a result, the affinity is a negative affinity, and wherein updating the search result rankings comprises ranking the one or more first search results as being less relevant than remaining search results. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the affinity of the second party with respect to the first party falls along a spectrum, and wherein updating the search results rankings is further based on a where, on the spectrum, the affinity falls. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: updating the social connection in the social graph between the first party and the second party based on the affinity, wherein the social connection is used to promote the one or more first search results. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein updating the social connection further comprises providing the first party with an option to increase the social connection between the first party and the second party. ### Claim 8 One or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising: obtaining information derived from a search initiated by a first party, the information specifying i) particular content retrieved from one or more network resources identified by the search, the particular content associated with a subject, and ii) one or more interactions by the first party with the particular content; determining, based on the information, that an amount of the interaction of the first party with the particular content satisfies a threshold; in response to determining that the interaction of the first party with the particular content satisfies the threshold, identifying a second party that authored the particular content; determining that the first party has a pre-existing social connection with the second party in a social graph associated with the first party; in response to determining that the first party has the pre-existing social connection with the second party, adjusting, in the social graph associated with the first party, an affinity for the particular content associated with the second party with respect to the first party based on the amount of the interaction with the content authored by the second party; and updating search result rankings based on the affinity for the particular content to promote one or more first search results provided to the first party that contain additional content authored by the second party and ii) associated with the subject, while maintaining a ranking of one or more second search results provided to the first party that contain additional content i) authored by the second party and ii) independent of association with the subject. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 8, wherein the affinity is a positive affinity, and wherein updating the search result rankings further comprises ranking the one or more first search results as being more relevant than remaining search results. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 9, wherein updating the search results rankings further comprises updating the search results rankings based on relevance to search terms in the additional content authored by the second party. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 8, wherein the interaction comprises failure to select the particular content and, as a result, the affinity is a negative affinity, and wherein updating the search result rankings comprises ranking the one or more first search results as being less relevant than remaining search results. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 8, wherein the affinity of the second party with respect to the first party falls along a spectrum, and wherein updating the search results rankings is further based on a where, on the spectrum, the affinity falls. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 8, wherein the operations comprise: updating the social connection in the social graph between the first party and the second party based on the affinity, wherein the social connection is used to promote the one or more first search results. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 13, wherein updating the social connection further comprises providing the first party with an option to increase the social connection between the first party and the second party. ### Claim 15 A system comprising: non-transitory memory storing instructions that are executable; and one or more processing devices executing the instructions to perform operations comprising: obtaining information derived from a search initiated by a first party, the information specifying i) content retrieved from one or more network resources identified by the search, and ii) one or more interactions by the first party with the content; obtaining information derived from a search initiated by a first party, the information specifying i) particular content retrieved from one or more network resources identified by the search, the particular content associated with a subject, and ii) one or more interactions by the first party with the particular content; determining, based on the information, that an amount of the interaction of the first party with the particular content satisfies a threshold; in response to determining that the interaction of the first party with the particular content satisfies the threshold, identifying a second party that authored the particular content; determining that the first party has a pre-existing social connection with the second party in a social graph associated with the first party; in response to determining that the first party has the pre-existing social connection with the second party, adjusting, in the social graph associated with the first party, an affinity for the particular content associated with the second party with respect to the first party based on the amount of the interaction with the content authored by the second party; and updating search result rankings based on the affinity for the particular content to promote one or more first search results provided to the first party that contain additional content i) authored by the second party and ii) associated with the subject, while maintaining a ranking of one or more second search results provided to the first party that contain additional content i) authored by the second party and ii) independent of association with the subject. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, wherein the affinity is a positive affinity, and wherein updating the search result rankings further comprises ranking the one or more first search results as being more relevant than remaining search results.