IP Library Patent Application 14284587
Patent Application
App. No. 14/284,587

SOCIAL NETWORKING BASED OFFERS

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US None
App. No.
14/284,587
Abstract

Techniques for providing social networking based offers, including identifying a particular user that is a customer of a service provider; identifying one or more other users that are socially connected to the particular user through at least one social network; generating, by the service provider, a master social plan for the particular user and a subset of the one or more other users, the master social plan identifying a business model between (i) each of the particular user and the subset of the one or more other users and (ii) the service provider; and providing an offer associated with the master social plan to the subset of the one or more other users.

Claims (48)

1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying a particular user that is a customer of a service provider;

identifying one or more other users that are socially connected to the particular user through at least one social network;

generating, by the service provider, a master social plan for the particular user and a subset of the one or more other users, the master social plan identifying a business model between (i) each of the particular user and the subset of the one or more other users and (ii) the service provider; and

providing an offer associated with the master social plan to the subset of the one or more other users.

2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to providing the offer, receiving, from one or more other users of the subset of the one or more other users, one or more personalized settings associated with the master social plan; and

generating, for each of the one or more other users of the subset of the one or more other users, a dependent social plan based on (i) the master social plan and (ii) the one or more personalized settings for the other user.

3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more personalized settings associated with a first other user of the one or more other users of the subset of the one or more other users is different from the one or more personalized settings associated with a second other user of the one or more other users of the subset of the one or more other users.

4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein generating the dependent social plan further comprises:

generating, for the first other user, a first dependent social plan based on (i) the master social plan and (ii) the one or more personalized settings associated with the first other user;

generating, for the second other user, a second dependent social plan based on (i) the master social plan and (ii) the one or more personalized settings associated with the second other user,

wherein the first dependent social plan is different from the second dependent social plan.

5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more personalized settings associated with the master social plan comprises one or more modifications of one or more characteristics of the master social plan.

6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising:

receiving, from each of the one or more other users of the subset of the one or more other users, an acceptance of a contract associated with the offer between the other user and the service provider; and

storing, in a database, an association between each of the one or more other users of the subset of the one or more other users and the particular user, the association indicating the acceptance of the contract associated with the offer.

7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising:

identifying an additional subset of the one or more other users that are socially connected to the particular user, the additional subset of the one or more other users exclusive of the one or more other users of the subset of the one or more other users that accepted the contract associated with the offer; and

providing the offer associated with the master social plan to the additional subset of the one or more other users.

8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , further comprising:

identifying a number of generated dependent social plans; and

associating a financial discount with the master social plan based on the number of generated dependent social plans.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the offer includes (i) the master social plan and (ii) one or more personalization options.

10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the one or more other users that are socially connected to the particular user through the at least one social network further comprises:

identifying a social network graph associated with the particular user and corresponding to the at least one social network; and

identifying the one or more other users that are socially connected to the particular user based on the social network graph.

11 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein providing the offer associated with the master social plan to the subset of the one or more other users further comprises providing the offer through the at least one social network.

12 . The computer-implemented method of claim 11 , wherein providing the offer through the at least one social network comprises modifying a social network stream of items of digital content to include an additional item of digital content associated with the offer.

13 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the customer is a current customer of the service provider.

14 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the customer is a potential customer of the service provider.

15 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising:

providing the offer associated with the master plan to the potential customer of the service provider.

16 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the one or more other users that are socially connected to the particular user through the at least one social network further comprises:

identifying, for each other user of the one or more other users, a social score of each other user with respect to the particular user;

comparing the social score of each other user of the one or more other users with a social threshold score; and

based on the comparing, identifying the subset of the one or more other users having a social score greater than the social threshold score.

17 . The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , wherein the social score, for each other user of the one or more other users, is based on a number of social interactions between the other user and the particular user and a type of the social interactions between the other user and the particular user.

18 . A computer program product encoded on a non-transitory storage medium, the product comprising non-transitory, computer readable instructions for causing one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

identifying a particular user that is a customer of a service provider;

identifying one or more other users that are socially connected to the particular user through at least one social network;

generating, by the service provider, a master social plan for the particular user and a subset of the one or more other users, the master social plan identifying a business model between (i) each of the particular user and the subset of the one or more other users and (ii) the service provider; and

providing an offer associated with the master social plan to the subset of the one or more other users.

19 . A system of one or more computers configured to perform operations comprising:

identifying a particular user that is a customer of a service provider;

identifying one or more other users that are socially connected to the particular user through at least one social network;

generating, by the service provider, a master social plan for the particular user and a subset of the one or more other users, the master social plan identifying a business model between (i) each of the particular user and the subset of the one or more other users and (ii) the service provider; and

providing an offer associated with the master social plan to the subset of the one or more other users.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Aug 26, 2014
From: SAP AG
To: SAP SE
Reel/Frame 033625/0223 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 22, 2014
From: LANDSCHEIDT, DENNIS; KLEIN, MARC-OLIVER
To: SAP AG
Reel/Frame 032986/0640 →