IP Library Granted Patent US 8,412,770
Granted Patent B2
US 8,412,770 · App. 12/702,114 · Granted Apr 2, 2013

Providing an answer to a question from a social network site using a separate messaging site

View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,412,770
App. No.
12/702,114
Granted
Apr 2, 2013
Kind
B2
Abstract

A question is received on a first social network site from a first user. The question is sent to a second user of a second social network site who receives the question from the second social network site. The first social network site receives an answer to the question from the second user via the second social network site and provides the answer to the first user.

Claims (51)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, via a computing device, a question posted on a first social network site by a first user that is a member of the first social network site;

sending, via the computing device, the question to a second social network site, such that the question is posted on the second social network site and is directed to a second user that is a member of a second social network site;

receiving, via the computing device, an answer to the question from the second user, wherein the answer is received from the second social network site;

providing the answer to the first user;

receiving, via the computing device, a plurality of prior questions of the first user that were sent to the second social network site;

receiving, via the computing device, a plurality of answers to the prior questions of the first user, wherein the plurality of answers are received from a plurality of users of the second social network site;

correlating, via the computing device, one or more of the plurality of prior questions with one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions; and

providing, via the computing device, an activity feed to the first user on the first social network site, the activity feed comprising the one or more of the plurality of prior questions and the one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions correlated to the one or more of the plurality of prior questions.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the answer comprises presenting the answer on a list of questions and respective answers provided for presentation in a web page on a display of a user device of the first user.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing a list of aliases and corresponding user names, a first alias of the list of aliases corresponding to the first user, wherein the answer received from the second social network site is addressed to the first alias.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the activity feed further comprises a plurality of favorites received from other users of the second social network site, wherein each of the other users has previously provided a respective one of the favorites in a message sent to the second social network site.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second social network site is a microblogging website, and further comprising storing data, on at least one a storage device, recording a plurality of friends of the first user, the data including a user name for each respective friend, and the friends including the second user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second social network site is a microblogging website, the question sent to the second user is a microblogging message, and the first social network site is integrated with the second social network site using an application program interface for the microblogging website.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user is a member of the second social network site, and the computing device has previously received an indication from the first user permitting the computing device to send questions received from the first user to the second social network site for forwarding to other members of the second social network site.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

parsing the answer received from the second social network site to determine a location contained within the answer; and

providing the location, with the answer provided to the first user, for display on a user device of the first user.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable medium, storing instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a question posted on a first social network site by a first user that is a member of the first social network site;

sending the question to a second social network site, such that the question is posted on the second social network site and is directed to a second user that is a member of a second social network site;

receiving an answer to the question from the second user, wherein the answer is received from the second social network site;

providing the answer to the first user;

receiving a plurality of prior questions of the first user that were sent to the second social network site;

receiving a plurality of answers to the prior questions of the first user, wherein the plurality of answers are received from a plurality of users of the second social network site;

correlating one or more of the plurality of prior questions with one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions; and

providing an activity feed to the first user on the first social network site, the activity feed comprising the one or more of the plurality of prior questions and the one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions correlated to the one or more of the plurality of prior questions.

10. The tangible non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein providing the answer comprises presenting the answer on a list of questions and respective answers provided for presentation in a web page on a display of a user device of the first user.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9 , the method further comprising storing a list of aliases and corresponding user names, a first alias of the list of aliases corresponding to the first user, wherein the answer received from the second social network site is addressed to the first alias.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the activity feed further comprises a plurality of favorites received from other users of the second social network site, wherein each of the other users has previously provided a respective one of the favorites in a message sent to the second social network site.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the second social network site is a microblogging website, the question sent to the second user is a microblogging message, and the first social network site is integrated with the second social network site using an application program interface for the microblogging website.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory to:

receive a question posted on a first social network site by a first user that is a member of the first social network site;

send the question to a second social network site, such that the question is posted on the second social network site and is directed to a second user that is a member of a second social network site,

receive an answer to the question from the second user, wherein the answer is received from the second social network site,

provide the answer to the first user;

receive a plurality of prior questions of the first user that were sent to the second social network site;

receive a plurality of answers to the prior questions of the first user, wherein the plurality of answers are received from a plurality of users of the second social network site;

correlate one or more of the plurality of prior questions with one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions; and

provide an activity feed to the first user on the first social network site, the activity feed comprising the one or more of the plurality of prior questions and the one or more of the plurality of answers to the prior questions correlated to the one or more of the plurality of prior questions;

a storage device, coupled to the processor, storing a list of aliases and corresponding user names, a first alias of the list of aliases corresponding to the first user, wherein the answer received from the second social network site is addressed to the first alias.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the apparatus receives the question from a user device of the first user.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to present the answer on a list of questions and respective answers provided for presentation in a web page on a display of a user device of the first user.

17. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

parse the answer received from the second social network site to determine a location contained within the answer; and

provide the location, with the answer provided to the first user, for display on a user device of the first user.

18. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein:

the activity feed further comprises a plurality of favorites received from other users of the second social network site, each of the other users having previously provided a respective one of the favorites in a respective message sent to the second social network site.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the second social network site is a microblogging website, the question sent to the second user is a microblogging message, and the first social network site is integrated with the second social network site using an application program interface for the microblogging website.

Assignments (25)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jan 7, 2025
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS AGENT
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 069830/0826 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 10, 2024
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: DEX MEDIA, INC.; YP LLC; YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC; YP ADVERTISING & PUBLISHING LLC; PRINT MEDIA LLC; CERBERUS YP DIGITAL BLOCKER LLC; CERBERUS YP BLOCKER LLC; YP HOLDINGS LLC; PRINT MEDIA HOLDINGS LLC; YP INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS CORP.; YP WESTERN HOLDINGS CORP.; YP SOUTHEAST HOLDINGS CORP.; YP MIDWEST HOLDINGS CORP.; YP CONNECTICUT HOLDINGS CORP.; PLUSMO HOLDINGS CORP.; INGENIO HOLDINGS CORP.
Reel/Frame 067381/0745 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 7, 2024
From: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: THRYV, INC.
Reel/Frame 067341/0434 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 3, 2024
From: THRYV, INC.
To: CITIZENS BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 067310/0627 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 1, 2024
From: THRYV, INC.
To: CITIZENS BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 067287/0759 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY Recorded Mar 2, 2021
From: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
To: THRYV, INC. (FORMERLY KNOWN AS DEX MEDIA, INC.); THRYV HOLDINGS, INC. (FORMERLY KNOWN AS DEX MEDIA HOLDINGS, INC.)
Reel/Frame 055472/0592 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Mar 1, 2021
From: THRYV, INC.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 055452/0258 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 25, 2020
From: YELLOWPAGES.COM, LLC
To: THRYV, INC.
Reel/Frame 052071/0589 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE NATURE OF CONVEYANCE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 042993 FRAME: 0249. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST. Recorded Aug 10, 2017
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 043511/0875 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE NATURE OF CONVEYANCE PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL: 043183 FRAME: 0734. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST. Recorded Aug 9, 2017
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 043493/0648 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 28, 2017
From: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
To: WILMINGTON TRUST, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 043363/0518 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 18, 2017
From: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 043029/0808 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 13, 2017
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 042993/0249 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 13, 2017
From: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 043183/0734 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Jul 3, 2017
From: YP LLC; YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC; YP ADVERTISING & PUBLISHING LLC; PRINT MEDIA LLC; DEX MEDIA HOLDINGS, INC.; CERBERUS YP DIGITAL BLOCKER LLC; CERBERUS YP BLOCKER LLC; YP HOLDINGS LLC; PRINT MEDIA HOLDINGS LLC; YP INTERMEDIATE HOLDINGS CORP.; YP WESTERN HOLDINGS CORP.; YP SOUTHEAST HOLDINGS CORP.; YP MIDWEST HOLDINGS CORP.; YP CONNECTICUT HOLDINGS CORP.; PLUSMO HOLDINGS CORP.; INGENIO HOLDINGS CORP.
To: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 043074/0794 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Dec 1, 2016
From: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
To: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS AGENT
Reel/Frame 040540/0948 →
GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST -- PATENTS Recorded Feb 28, 2014
From: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
To: PNC BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
Reel/Frame 032372/0216 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Jul 3, 2013
From: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
To: JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., AS ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT
Reel/Frame 030746/0584 →
RELEASE OF GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST -- PATENTS Recorded Jun 5, 2013
From: CERBERUS YP ARRANGER, LLC
To: INGENIO LLC (FORMERLY KNOWN AS INGENIO, INC.)
Reel/Frame 030554/0356 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 16, 2012
From: FORTRESS CREDIT CO LLC., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: INGENIO, INC.
Reel/Frame 029453/0560 →
NUNC PRO TUNC ASSIGNMENT Recorded Nov 12, 2012
From: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
To: YELLOWPAGES.COM LLC
Reel/Frame 029279/0289 →
GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST - PATENTS Recorded May 8, 2012
From: INGENIO, INC.
To: FORTRESS CREDIT CO LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 028177/0004 →
GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST - PATENTS Recorded May 8, 2012
From: INGENIO, INC.
To: CERBERUS YP ARRANGER, LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 028177/0081 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 12, 2010
From: RANDQUIST, COBY P.
To: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
Reel/Frame 023933/0415 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 12, 2010
From: MARCUCCI, JUSTIN
To: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
Reel/Frame 023933/0379 →