Social Hierarchy Development via Communication Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication technologies lack an efficient method to determine and maintain a social hierarchy among contacts based on communication patterns, leading to inefficient management of user interactions and privacy settings.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that track communications between a user and their contacts over time, analyzing the rate of change and repeated communication attempts to generate a numerical score, which is used to identify and update the social hierarchy, granting different levels of access and privileges.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If communication tracking and analysis methods are implemented to determine social hierarchy, then contact management efficiency and privacy setting optimization are improved, but device complexity and computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary tracking of communication patterns between user and contacts over time periods, storing communication data and calculating rates of change before hierarchy determination is needed. This allows the social hierarchy to be dynamically updated based on accumulated communication history rather than requiring real-time analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a processing element that acts as an intermediary between communication data and hierarchy determination. This processing element analyzes communication patterns, calculates rates of change, and generates numerical scores that feed into the social hierarchy structure, separating the complex analysis from the final hierarchy output.
2Measurement precision
If communication patterns are tracked over extended time periods to improve hierarchy accuracy, then measurement precision is improved, but loss of time and data storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic tracking of communication patterns by dividing time into discrete periods (first time period, second time period) and calculating rates of change between these periods. This allows accurate hierarchy determination through structured temporal sampling while managing data collection efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
Communication data is tracked and stored in advance over multiple time periods before hierarchy determination is performed. The processing element has access to accumulated communication history, allowing precise measurement of communication rate changes without requiring continuous real-time analysis.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and apparatus for developing a social hierarchy for a user from a plurality of contacts includes, for each contact, tracking communications occurring between the user and the contact; determining, from the tracked communications, a rate of change for communications between the user and the contact; and identifying, based on the rate of change, a position in the social hierarchy for the contact. Another method and apparatus includes tracking communications occurring between the user and a contact in the plurality of contacts, wherein tracking a communication comprises identifying a method of communication and a time the communication occurred; determining, from the tracked communications, that repeated communication attempts were made between the user and the contact; and identifying, based on the repeated communication attempts, a position in the social hierarchy for the contact.