Methods of providing access to messages based on degrees of separation

Abstract

The people a user is presumed to know or be associated with may be determined using a number of techniques. This information about people that the user knows is used in relation to the user's communications. For example access to a user's online presence may be restricted based on the known people such that access to presence is provided only to those people that the user knows.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 maintaining, for a user of a communications system, a list of known people whose degrees of separation from the user are within a threshold degree of separation, wherein the threshold degree of separation comprises a maximum number of hops in a relationship between users of the communications system;   determining, for a co-user of the communications system, a degree of separation from the user based on identifying a common link between the user and the co-user;   automatically inferring that the co-user is known to the user based on the degree of separation between the user and the co-user; and   adding, to the list of known people, a communication identifier associated with the co-user based on the inference that the co-user is known to the user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the common link comprises an individual known to the user and the co-user. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the degree of separation comprises determining a number of hops between the user and the co-user, wherein the number of hops indicates how many co-users of the communications system are required to link the user and the co-user. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein automatically inferring that the co-user is known to the user comprises determining that the degree of separation between the user and the co-user is within the threshold degree of separation. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the threshold degree of separation further comprises a user-defined number of hops in the relationship between the user and the co-user. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting a user action associated with a second co-user of the communications system; and   adding, to the list of known people, a communication identifier associated with a second co-user in response to the detected user action.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the user action comprises a user action in relation to an electronic message received by the user from the co-user. 
     
     
         8 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause a computer device to:
 maintain, for a user of a communications system, a list of known people whose degrees of separation from the user are within a threshold degree of separation, wherein the threshold degree of separation comprises a maximum number of hops in a relationship between users of the communications system;   determine, for a co-user of the communications system, a degree of separation from the user based on identifying a common link between the user and the co-user;   automatically infer that the co-user is known to the user based on the degree of separation between the user and the co-user; and   add, to the list of known people, a communication identifier associated with the co-user based on the inference that the co-user is known to the user.   
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the common link comprises an individual known to the user and the co-user. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the computer device to determine the degree of separation by determining a number of hops between the user and the co-user, wherein the number of hops indicates how many co-users of the communications system are required to link the user and the co-user. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause the computer device to automatically infer that the co-user is known to the user by determining that the degree of separation between the user and the co-user is within the threshold degree of separation. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the threshold degree of separation further comprises a user-defined number of hops in the relationship between the user and the co-user. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 8 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computer device to:
 detect a user action associated with a second co-user of the communications system; and   add, to the list of known people, a communication identifier associated with a second co-user in response to the detected user action.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the user action comprises a user action in relation to an electronic message received by the user from the co-user. 
     
     
         15 . A system comprising:
 at least one processor; and   a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
 maintain, for a user of a communications system, a list of known people whose degrees of separation from the user are within a threshold degree of separation, wherein the threshold degree of separation comprises a maximum number of hops in a relationship between users of the communications system; 
 determine, for a co-user of the communications system, a degree of separation from the user based on identifying a common link between the user and the co-user; 
 automatically infer that the co-user is known to the user based on the degree of separation between the user and the co-user; and 
 add, to the list of known people, a communication identifier associated with the co-user based on the inference that the co-user is known to the user. 
   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the common link comprises an individual known to the user and the co-user. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions cause the system to determine the degree of separation by determining a number of hops between the user and the co-user, wherein the number of hops indicates how many co-users of the communications system are required to link the user and the co-user. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the instructions cause the system to automatically infer that the co-user is known to the user by determining that the degree of separation between the user and the co-user is within the threshold degree of separation. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the threshold degree of separation further comprises a user-defined number of hops between the user and the co-user. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
 detect a user action associated with a second co-user of the communications system; and   add, to the list of known people, a communication identifier associated with a second co-user in response to the detected user action.