IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,367,826

Granted Patent B2

US 10,367,826 · App. 16/218,069 · Granted Jul 30, 2019

Identity and trustworthiness verification using online and offline components

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 10,367,826
App. No.: 16/218,069
Granted: Jul 30, 2019
Kind: B2

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Abstract

Methods and systems for verifying the identity and trustworthiness of a user of an online system are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving online and offline identity information for a user and comparing them to a user profile information provided by the user. Furthermore, the user's online activity in a third party online system and the user's offline activity are received. Based on the online activity and the offline activity a trustworthiness score may be calculated.

Claims (78)

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from a user, by a computer, information about an identity of the user of a first-party online system;

sending a request to a third party online system for information about the user, the third party online system different than the first-party online system;

receiving, from the third-party online system, information about activities performed by the user in the third-party online system;

determining an online trustworthiness score based at least on the information about the activities performed by the user in the third-party online system, wherein determining the online trustworthiness score comprises:

identifying a most recent update in a user profile associated with the user in the third-party online system,

determining an amount of time since the most recent update, and

in response to the amount of time not exceeding a threshold amount of time, determining the online trustworthiness score at least based on the amount of time;

sending a request to one or more databases for information associated with the identity of the user;

receiving, from the one or more databases, offline information about the user;

determining an offline trustworthiness score based on the offline information;

determining a trustworthiness score based on the online trustworthiness score and the offline trustworthiness score; and

responsive to determining that the trustworthiness score of the user is below a threshold value, blocking an interaction of the user with another user in the first-party online system.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the online trustworthiness score further is determined further based on information about the user's connections in the third-party online system by:

identifying a plurality of connections of the user in the third-party online system;

for each of the identified connections:

determining a trustworthiness score, and

determining a weight based on affinity of the identified connection with the user; and

determining the online trustworthiness score of the user based on the trustworthiness score and weight of each of the identified connections.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the identified connections are directly connected to the user in the third-party online system.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the online trustworthiness score is determined further based on a date the account of the user in the third-party online system was updated.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the online trustworthiness score is determined further based on a frequency the account of the user in the third-party online system is updated.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the online trustworthiness score is further based on a browsing behavior of the user.

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

sending a request to one or more other third party online systems for information about the user, the one or more other third party online systems different than the first-party online system;

receiving, from the one or more other third-party online systems, information about activities performed by the user in the one or more other third-party online systems; and

determining an online trustworthiness score further based on the information about the activities performed by the user in the one or more other third-party online systems.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the offline information includes one or more comments associated with the user from other users of the first-party online system.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the offline information further includes a recency of the one or more comments associated with the user.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable computer program instructions, the computer program instructions comprising instructions that when executed cause a computer processor to:

receive, from a user, by a computer, information about an identity of the user of a first-party online system;

send a request to a third party online system for information about the user, the third party online system different than the first-party online system;

receive, from the third-party online system, information about activities performed by the user in the third-party online system;

determine an online trustworthiness score based at least on the information about the activities performed by the user in the third-party online system, wherein the computer program instructions for determining the online trustworthiness score comprise instructions that when executed cause the computer processor to:

identify a most recent update in a user profile associated with the user in the third-party online system,

determine an amount of time since the most recent update, and

in response to the amount of time not exceeding a threshold amount of time, determine the online trustworthiness score at least based on the amount of time;

send a request to one or more databases for information associated with the identity of the user;

receive, from the one or more databases, offline information about the user;

determine an offline trustworthiness score based on the offline information;

determine a trustworthiness score based on the online trustworthiness score and the offline trustworthiness score; and

responsive to determining that the trustworthiness score of the user is below a threshold value, block an interaction of the user with another user in the first-party online system.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the online trustworthiness score further is determined further based on information about the user's connections in the third-party online system by:

identifying a plurality of connections of the user in the third-party online system;

for each of the identified connections:

determining a trustworthiness score, and

determining a weight based on affinity of the identified connection with the user; and

determining the online trustworthiness score of the user based on the trustworthiness score and weight of each of the identified connections.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the identified connections are directly connected to the user in the third-party online system.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the online trustworthiness score is determined further based on a date the account of the user in the third-party online system was updated.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the online trustworthiness score is determined further based on a frequency the account of the user in the third-party online system is updated.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the online trustworthiness score is further based on a browsing behavior of the user.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the computer program instructions further comprise instructions that when executed cause a computer processor to:

send a request to one or more other third party online systems for information about the user, the one or more other third party online systems different than the first-party online system;

receive, from the one or more other third-party online systems, information about activities performed by the user in the one or more other third-party online systems; and

determine an online trustworthiness score further based on the information about the activities performed by the user in the one or more other third-party online systems.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the offline information includes one or more comments associated with the user from other users of the first-party online system.

18. A computer system comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer program instructions, the computer program instructions comprising instructions that when executed cause a computer processor to perform steps, comprising: