EHarmony.com matchmaker patent

What's love but a coupling satisfaction predictor? Eharmony recently received a patent on its matchmaking methodology. (U.S. Patent No. 6,735,568).

Claim 1 of the patent deacribes a method with four steps:

(i) generating, from empirical data, a number of factors ... relevant to relationship satisfaction;
(ii) approximating the satisfaction that a user ... has in the relationships that the user forms with others;
(iii) identifying ... candidates for a relationship with the user by [using] the approximated satisfaction and one or more of the factors; and
(iv) approximating the satisfaction that the user will have in a relationship with a particular candidate.

(Related AP Story by Rachel Konrad).