Finding relatives in a database

1. A computer-implemented method for operating a relative finder database to display in a user interface a list of potential relatives among users, the method comprising:

(a) providing a system comprising a computer and the relative finder database comprising autosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence information of a first user and autosomal DNA sequence information of a plurality of other users, wherein the system is configured to estimate relative relationships between the first user and one or more users of the plurality of other users from the autosomal DNA sequence information in the relative finder database;

(b) displaying features of the user interface on a user device, the user interface comprising a graphical display structure comprising:

(i) a first input component for receiving an opt-in election from the first user to consent to being presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(ii) a second input component for receiving an indication of a user selection to be presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database; and

(iii) an indication of one or more users who may be potential relatives of the first user, the indication configured to be updated to display an estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users and comprising one or more icons each of which corresponds to one of the one or more users;

(c) receiving, from the first user via input into the first input component of b(i), an opt-in election to consent to being presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(d) receiving, from the first user via input into the second input component of b(ii), a user selection to be presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(e) obtaining from the system, upon receiving the user selection of (d), an estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and the one or more users among the plurality of other users of the relative finder database; and

(f) automatically updating, by a processor of the computer, the graphical display structure of the user interface to display the estimated degree of relative relationship of the first user and each of the one or more users obtained in (e), wherein updating the graphical display structure comprises updating the indication of the one or more users of b(iii) to display the one or more icons each of which corresponds to one of the one or more users among the plurality of other users and information pertaining to each of the one or more users among the plurality of other users, the information comprising:

an entry of personal details that each of the one or more users has chosen to make public;

a number of identical-by-descent (IBD) segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users;

a length of the IBD segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users or the length of the IBD segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users represented as a percentage; and

the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: obtaining from the system an estimated range of possible relative relationships between the first user and each of the one or more users among the plurality of other users in the relative finder database, wherein the information displayed in (f) comprises the estimated range of possible relative relationships between the first user and each of the one or more users among the plurality of other users in the relative finder database.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more users includes multiple users, further comprising:

obtaining the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and multiple users among the plurality of other users of the relative finder database who share a common ancestor within a threshold number of generations, wherein potential relationships between the first user and the multiple users among the plurality of other users in the relative finder database were previously unknown to the first user.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising: obtaining from the system an estimated range of possible relative relationships between the first user and each of the multiple users among the plurality of other users in the relative finder database, wherein the information provided in (f) comprises the estimated range of possible relative relationships between the first user and each of the multiple users among the plurality of other users in the relative finder database.

5. The method of claim 3 , the graphical display structure further comprising: a plurality of connection buttons each corresponding to one of the multiple users, each connection button configured to receive a user input selection to send a connection request to a corresponding user of the multiple users associated with the connection button.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the indication of b(iii) comprises a list of the multiple users and automatically updating the graphical display structure further comprises sorting the multiple users in descending order from a relative estimated to be closest to the first user positioned at a top of the list of the multiple users.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the indication of b(iii) comprises a family tree representation of the multiple users based on the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the multiple users.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured to estimate relative relationships between the first user and one or more users of the plurality of other users from the autosomal DNA sequence information in the relative finder database based on a parallel comparison between the first user and the one or more users of the plurality of other users to estimate identical-by-descent (IBD) information between the first user and one or more users of the plurality of other users.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising: encoding the BD information between the first user and the one or more users of the plurality of other users from the parallel comparison between the first user and the one or more users of the plurality of other users in the relative finder database in an array comprising a plurality of rows corresponding to the one or more users of the plurality of other users in the relative finder database and a plurality of columns corresponding to a location of the autosomal DNA information relative to a position on a chromosome.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising: estimating the degree of relative relationship between the first user and the one or more users of the plurality of other users based on the array; and storing the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and the one or more users in a database, wherein in step (e) obtaining from the system the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and the one or more users among the plurality of other users of the relative finder database includes retrieving the estimated degree of relative relationship from the relative finder database in which the estimated degree of relative relationship is stored.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the graphical display structure further comprises: a third input component for receiving an opt-in from the first user prior to processing the autosomal DNA sequence information of the first user and the plurality of other users in the relative finder database in parallel.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first input component of b(i) and the second input component of b(ii) are presented to the first user on different screens.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more icons are configured to be selected by the first user and wherein the method further comprises, receiving from the first user via selection of one of the one or more icons an indication of the user corresponding to the selected icon.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising, in response to receiving an indication of the user corresponding to the selected icon, automatically updating the graphical display structure of the user interface to display additional information about the user corresponding to the selected icon.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising, in response to receiving an indication of the user corresponding to the selected icon, automatically updating the graphical display structure of the user interface to display a fourth input component configured to receive a user input selection to send a connection request to the user corresponding to the selected icon.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising, in response to receiving from the first user via into the fourth input component a user selection to send a connection request to the user corresponding to the selected icon, sending the connection request to the user corresponding to the selected icon.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and the one or more users in a database, wherein in step (e) obtaining from the system the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and the one or more users among the plurality of other users of the relative finder database includes retrieving the estimated degree of relative relationship from the relative finder database in which the estimated degree of relative relationship is stored.

18. A system for operating a relative finder database to display in a user interface a list of potential relatives among users, the system comprising:

a relative finder database comprising autosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence information of a first user and autosomal DNA sequence information of a plurality of other users;

a computer comprising one or more processors and memory, the one or more processors configured to:

(a) estimate relative relationships between the first user and one or more users of the plurality of other users from the autosomal DNA sequence information in the relative finder database;

(b) cause to be displayed on a user device, a user interface comprising a graphical display structure, the graphical display structure comprising:

(i) a first input component for receiving an opt-in election from the first user to consent to being presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(ii) a second input component for receiving an indication of a user selection to be presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database; and

(iii) an indication of one or more users who may be potential relatives of the first user, the indication configured to be updated to display an estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users and comprising one or more icons each of which corresponds to one of the one or more users;

(c) receive, from the first user via input into the first input component of b(i), an opt-in election to consent to being presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(d) receive, from the first user via input into the second input component of b(ii), a user selection to be presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(e) obtain, upon receiving the user selection of (d), an estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and the one or more users of the plurality of other users in the relative finder database; and

(f) automatically update the graphical display structure of the user interface to display the estimated degree of relative relationship of the first user and each of the one or more users obtained in (e), wherein updating the graphical display structure comprises updating the indication of the one or more users of b(iii) to display the one or more icons each of which corresponds to one of the one or more users among the plurality of other users and information pertaining to each of the one or more users among the plurality of other users, the information comprising:

an entry of personal details that each of the one or more users has chosen to make public;

a number of identical-by-descent (IBD) segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users;

a length of the IBD segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users or the length of the IBD segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users represented as a percentage; and

the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program code that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to perform operations for operating a relative finder database to display in a user interface a list of potential relatives among users, said program code comprising code for:

(a) estimating relative relationships between a first user and one or more users of a plurality of other users from autosomal DNA sequence information in the relative finder database;

(b) displaying features of the user interface on a user device, the user interface comprising a graphical display structure comprising:

(i) a first input component for receiving an opt-in election from the first user to consent to being presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(ii) a second input component for receiving an indication of a user selection to be presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database; and

(iii) an indication of one or more users who may be potential relatives of the first user, the indication configured to be updated to display an estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users and comprising one or more icons each of which corresponds to one of the one or more users;

(c) receiving, from the first user via input into the first input component of b(i), an opt-in election to consent to being presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(d) receiving, from the first user via input into the second input component of b(ii), a user selection to be presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(e) obtaining from the computer system, upon receiving the user selection of (d), an estimated degree of relative relationship the first user and the one or more users of the plurality of other users in the relative finder database; and

(f) automatically updating the graphical display structure of the user interface to display the estimated degree of relative relationship of the first user and each of the one or more users obtained in (e), wherein updating the graphical display structure comprises updating the indication of the one or more users of b(iii) to display the one or more icons each of which corresponds to one of the one or more users among the plurality of other users and information pertaining to each of the one or more users among the plurality of other users, the information comprising:

an entry of personal details that each of the one or more users has chosen to make public;

a number of identical-by-descent (IBD) segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users;

a length of the IBD segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users or the length of the IBD segments shared between the first user and each of the one or more users represented as a percentage; and

the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users.

20. A computer-implemented method for operating a relative finder database to display in a user interface a list of potential relatives among users, the method comprising:

(a) providing a system comprising a computer and the relative finder database comprising autosomal deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence information of a first user and autosomal DNA sequence information of a plurality of other users, wherein the system is configured to estimate relative relationships between the first user and one or more users of the plurality of other users from the autosomal DNA sequence information in the relative finder database;

(b) displaying features of the user interface on a user device, the user interface comprising a graphical display structure comprising:

(i) a first input component for receiving an opt-in election from the first user to consent to being presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(ii) a second input component for receiving an indication of a user selection to be presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database; and

(iii) an indication of one or more users who may be potential relatives of the first user, the indication configured to be updated to display an estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users and comprising one or more icons each of which corresponds to one of the one or more users and is configured to be selected by the first user;

(c) receiving, from the first user via input into the first input component of b(i), an opt-in election to consent to being presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(d) receiving, from the first user via input into the second input component of b(ii), a user selection to be presented with information about potential relatives among users in the relative finder database;

(e) obtaining from the system, upon receiving the user selection of (d), an estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and the one or more users among the plurality of other users of the relative finder database;

(f) automatically updating, by a processor of the computer, the graphical display structure of the user interface to display the estimated degree of relative relationship of the first user and each of the one or more users obtained in (e), wherein updating the graphical display structure comprises updating the indication of the one or more users of b(iii) to display the one or more icons each of which corresponds to one of the one or more users among the plurality of other users and information pertaining to each of the one or more users among the plurality of other users, the information comprising:

an entry of personal details that each of the one or more users has chosen to make public; and

the estimated degree of relative relationship between the first user and each of the one or more users;

(g) receiving from the first user via selection of one of the one or more icons in b(iii) an indication of the user corresponding to the selected icon;

(h) in response to receiving an indication of the user corresponding to the selected icon in (g), automatically updating, by a processor of the computer, the graphical display structure of the user interface to display additional information about the user corresponding to the selected icon.