US Patent:
20100042511, Feb 18, 2010
Inventors:
Neelakantan Sundaresan - Mountain View CA, US
Vasilios Mitrokostas - West Yarmouth MA, US
Lauren Olver - The Woodlands TX, US
Chi-Hsien Chiu - Milpitas CA, US
Jean-David Ruvini - San Jose CA, US
Badrul M. Sarwar - San Jose CA, US
Hill Trung Nguyen - San Jose CA, US
International Classification:
G06Q 30/00
G06Q 99/00
G06F 15/16
G06F 3/01
H04L 9/32
G06F 21/00
US Classification:
705 26, 705 1, 709204, 715751, 726 8
Abstract:
There is provided a method and system for qualification testing in a social network service. Qualification testing provides access control into a social network, wherein qualification is based on answers to questions related to a topic. In one example, members admitted to the network provide guidance, notes and research assistance to another member. The social network members access the social network from an external networked computing service, such as another social network, to facilitate easy connection to potential members. The social network may be implemented as an application overlay to the external service, or may access connections in the external network.