Social Network Path Search Using Relationship Indices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current social network management systems are limited to establishing only 1:1 relationships and lack the ability to differentiate relationship levels, leading to concerns about information leakage and reluctance to expand online networks, as well as concentrating requests on active users, causing network instability.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that record relationship indices reflecting trustworthiness between users, allowing for the evaluation of paths based on these indices to establish various relationship levels and distribute connections more evenly, using weights to optimize search paths and promote multilateral relationships.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If only 1:1 relationships are established in social networks, then relationship management is simple, but relationship levels cannot be differentiated and information leakage concerns arise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments relationships into multiple levels (first order, second order, third order, etc.) based on the number of intermediate users. This segmentation allows the system to differentiate relationship levels while maintaining manageable complexity through automated classification rules.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces relationship indices as quantitative parameters to represent trustworthiness and relationship strength. By changing from qualitative to quantitative relationship measurement, the system can differentiate multiple relationship levels systematically without proportionally increasing management complexity.
2Quantity of substance
If users expand their online networks widely, then more connections are available, but trustworthiness verification becomes difficult and information leakage risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms trustworthiness verification into a quantitative parameter (relationship index) that can be automatically calculated and compared. This allows users to assess reliability across many connections without manual verification of each relationship.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where relationship indices are continuously updated based on interaction history and network position. This feedback loop enables dynamic trust assessment as users expand their networks, maintaining reliability verification capability.
3Quantity of substance
If active users receive concentrated requests, then they have many connections, but network stability decreases and the system becomes unbalanced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by distributing relationship indices and connection weights non-uniformly across the network based on local relationship characteristics. This allows the system to identify and balance concentrated request patterns while maintaining overall network stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from relationship indices to monitor and balance network connections. When concentration patterns are detected, the feedback mechanism enables automatic adjustment of relationship weights to maintain network stability.
4Productivity
If path search considers multiple relationship levels, then optimal paths can be found, but search complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts multi-level relationship evaluation into quantitative parameter comparisons (relationship indices). This transformation allows complex path optimization to be solved using standard algorithms with modified weighting, reducing search complexity while maintaining productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method of managing a social network are disclosed. The method includes the step of recording the IDs and corresponding personal information of users who have subscribed to a service via a network, in a user DB; the step of recording corresponding relationships between the users and relationship indices R, reflecting the degrees of trustworthiness of the users having the corresponding relationships, in a relationship information DB; and the path search step of evaluating one or more paths based on the relationship indices R of respective links constituting the paths and providing evaluation results to a first user so that the first user can select an optimal path from among the paths existing between the first user and a second user on the social network constructed with the users used as nodes and the corresponding relationships of the users used as the links.