Prior art — US Patent 10117290

The following analysis identifies relevant prior art for US patent 10117290, focusing on the patent citations listed on the Google Patents page for US10117290. Due to the absence of explicit claims within the provided patent text, the claims for US10117290 were retrieved from the Google Patents website (https://patents.google.com/patent/US10117290/en) and used as the basis for the anticipation analysis.

The core concepts of US10117290 revolve around a "situational network" (SitNet) that connects participants based on an event or situation. Key features include Personal Information Aggregators (PIAs) for managing user data, N-Dimensional Social Networks (NDSNs) for characterizing relationships, event nodes, dynamic connections based on location or event changes, tiered access levels for emergency situations, roll-call features, and targeted advertising based on user affiliation with the situation.

For each identified prior art reference, a brief description and potential anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102 will be provided. Anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102 requires that every element of the claimed invention is disclosed, either explicitly or inherently, in a single prior art reference.

Claims of US10117290 (as extracted from Google Patents):
The patent US10117290 primarily claims a method and a system for using a situational network.
Claim 1 states: "A method for providing a situational network to a plurality of users, the method comprising: identifying an occurrence or an expected occurrence of an event or a situation; establishing a plurality of connections between a set of participants, wherein the set of participants includes at least one situation authority and a plurality of users, each user having a corresponding personal information aggregator (PIA); and sharing information related to the event or the situation between the set of participants, wherein at least one of the plurality of connections is a direct connection between a first PIA of a first user and a second PIA of a second user, the first user and the second user having no prior knowledge of each other through any other type of social network or personal interactions, and wherein the direct connection is established based on the occurrence or the expected occurrence of the event or the situation."

Other claims elaborate on aspects like:

The event or situation being associated with an event node (Claim 2).
Automatic connection/disconnection based on movement relative to the situation (Claim 3).
Temporal limitation of links (Claim 4).
Raised affinity along a dimension for the situation (Claim 5).
Proximity-based SitNet (Claim 6).
Centralized, decentralized, or combined architectures (Claims 7-9).
Event relative SitNet (Claims 10-12).
Providing navigation information (Claim 13).
Broadcasting emergency information with override authority (Claims 14-16).
Multi-tiered access levels for emergency situations (Claims 17-20).
Roll-call or check-in feature (Claims 21-23).
Searchable message board (Claims 24-25).
Targeted advertisements based on affiliation (Claims 26-30).
A system claim corresponding to the method (Claim 31).

Most Relevant Prior Art for US10117290:

Based on the patent citations section of US10117290 on Google Patents, a selection of potentially highly relevant prior art documents is provided below, with the understanding that a full anticipation analysis would require a deeper dive into the specifics of each reference and each claim.

US 2007/0033285 A1: Method and system for providing a multi-dimensional personal information network
- Full Citation: US 2007/0033285 A1 (Cona et al.)
- Publication/Filing Date: Publication: February 8, 2007; Filing: August 4, 2005.
- Brief Description: This publication describes a method and system for providing a multi-dimensional personal information network (NDSN), which includes personal information aggregators (PIAs) for users to store and control personal information, and enables connections between users along various dimensions (e.g., friendship, professional, consumer). It also discusses discovering other members, inviting new members, configuring user profiles, and creating "projected" views of the network. This patent explicitly introduces the concepts of PIAs and NDSNs, which are foundational to US10117290.
- Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is highly relevant and likely anticipates many aspects related to the underlying personal information management and social networking framework. Specifically, it could potentially anticipate:
  - The concept of a "personal information aggregator (PIA)" as described in US10117290 (e.g., in Claim 1, which mentions "each user having a corresponding personal information aggregator (PIA)").
  - The use of a "multi-dimensional personal information network" or NDSN (as described in the specification of US10117290, and potentially underlying the "set of participants" and "connections" in Claim 1).
  - Aspects of how PIAs store, organize, and control personal information, and how users control access.
  - The discovery and connection mechanisms between users within such a network (e.g., "discovering an NDSN" and "connecting to other members" described in US10117290's specification).
  - The idea of connections between PIAs (nodes) that may not have prior direct interaction, but are connected through the network.
US 7,272,639 B2: System and method for using a personal information aggregator
- Full Citation: US 7,272,639 B2 (Cona et al.)
- Publication/Filing Date: Publication: September 18, 2007; Filing: October 18, 2004.
- Brief Description: This patent details a Personal Information Aggregator (PIA) that allows a user to store, organize, and control their personal information from various sources. It focuses on the authorization mechanisms for external entities to access subsets of this personal information, including single-use, ongoing-use, and limited-use authorizations, and user-initiated data provision and reception.
- Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference is foundational for the PIA concept itself and its core functionalities. It likely anticipates:
  - The fundamental concept of a "personal information aggregator (PIA)" and its function of storing, organizing, and controlling personal information (as in Claim 1 of US10117290).
  - The various authorization types (single-use, ongoing-use, limited-use) for accessing or providing data to a PIA, as detailed in the specification of US10117290 (e.g., FIGS. 5-8).
  - The user's control over input and output data feeds of the PIA.
US 7,496,515 B2: Method and system for providing a multi-dimensional personal information network
- Full Citation: US 7,496,515 B2 (Cona et al.)
- Publication/Filing Date: Publication: February 24, 2009; Filing: February 2, 2007.
- Brief Description: This patent is a continuation of US 2007/0033285 A1 and further elaborates on the N-dimensional social network (NDSN), detailing how users are connected into the network, how relationships are characterized by multiple dimensions (e.g., friendship, professional, consumer), and the ability to discover and utilize indirect relationships. It also covers the concept of "projected" views of subsets of the NDSN based on selected dimensions or affinity attributes.
- Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): As a further development of the NDSN, this patent likely anticipates:
  - The use of an N-dimensional social network as a framework for establishing connections (similar to the underlying network in US10117290's Claim 1).
  - The concept of multiple dimensions of association to characterize relationships between users.
  - The idea of nodes being connected by degrees of separation, and the ability to establish direct connections from indirect ones.
  - The creation and use of "projected views" of the network (as described in US10117290's specification and relevant to how participants might filter information in a SitNet).
US 7,440,984 B2: Method and system for presenting targeted advertisements through an N-dimensional social network
- Full Citation: US 7,440,984 B2 (Cona et al.)
- Publication/Filing Date: Publication: October 28, 2008; Filing: August 4, 2005.
- Brief Description: This patent focuses on providing targeted advertisements to users through an N-dimensional social network. It describes using user profiles and relationships within the NDSN to deliver relevant advertisements.
- Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This reference specifically addresses targeted advertising within a social network context. It could potentially anticipate:
  - Claims related to targeted advertisements, particularly Claims 26-30 of US10117290, which describe delivering targeted advertisements to users connected through a SitNet based on profile and location information, and an "affiliation" between the user and the situation. The core idea of targeted advertising based on user data in a network might be anticipated, though the "affiliation with the situation" might be a distinguishing feature.
US 7,657,599 B2: System and method for providing a multi-dimensional personal information network
- Full Citation: US 7,657,599 B2 (Cona et al.)
- Publication/Filing Date: Publication: February 2, 2010; Filing: September 17, 2007.
- Brief Description: Another patent in the series by Cona et al., continuing to detail methods and systems for multi-dimensional personal information networks (NDSNs) and personal information aggregators (PIAs), including aspects of managing relationships and information exchange.
- Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to the other NDSN/PIA patents by Cona et al., this reference would further strengthen anticipation arguments for the foundational elements of PIAs and NDSNs, including:
  - The use of PIAs and NDSNs as core components (Claims 1, 31).
  - Mechanisms for managing connections and information within such networks (Claims 1, 31).

It is important to note that while these prior art documents by the same inventors (Cona et al.) introduce and extensively cover the foundational concepts of PIAs and NDSNs, US10117290 specifically focuses on the situational aspect of forming and using such a network, particularly with respect to real-world events or situations and the dynamic nature of connections and information sharing in that context. Therefore, while the components (PIAs, NDSNs) might be anticipated, the application of these components to create a "situational network" with event-driven connections, dynamic participant sets, and specific features like emergency response tiers or situation-based advertising might represent a novel combination or use over the cited prior art. A detailed claim-by-claim analysis would be required to precisely determine which claims, or parts thereof, are fully anticipated.

The provided patent text for US10117290 explicitly references "NDSN" and "PIA" as components that "may be used as a framework for establishing a Situational Network," and describes the detailed operation of PIAs and NDSNs. The existence of prior art documents by the same inventors (Cona et al.) detailing these components strongly suggests that the novelty of US10117290 resides in how these established components are adapted and combined to form and manage a situational network, rather than in the invention of PIAs or NDSNs themselves.