Prioritization of messages within a message collection

• US 10,182,311 B2
• Filed: 10/18/2017
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Inventors: Sehn, Timothy Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Batista, Marcos
• Application Number:
  US15/787,467
• Publication Number:
  US 20180103002A1
• Time in Patent Office: 454 Days
• Field of Search: 455466, 370338
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/279 Recognition of textual entities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0252 based on events or environment, e.g. weather or festivals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0276 Advertisement creation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/00 Animation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/418 Document matching, e.g. of document images
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/61 for local area broadcast, e.g. instore broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 : Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration

Abstract

In some embodiments, a computer implemented method of processing messages may include receiving priority information from at least one sponsor, the priority information to be used in determining a priority of one or more messages received from a plurality user devices, creating a message collection using a plurality of messages received from the plurality of user devices, and prioritizing at least one message in the message collection according to the received priority information.

Claims

1. A method of processing messages, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server computer, priority information from at least one sponsor, the priority information to be used in determining a priority of one or more messages received from a plurality user devices;

creating, by the server computer, a message collection using a plurality of messages received from the plurality of user devices;

determining, by the server computer, based on the priority information received from the at least one sponsor, whether a first message in the message collection meets a minimum consideration to be prioritized in the message collection;

prioritizing, by the server computer, the first message in the message collection when the first message meets the minimum consideration to be prioritized in the message collection and according to the received priority information; and

not prioritizing, by the server computer, the first message in the message collection when the first message does not meet the minimum consideration to be prioritized in the message collection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority information is a function of the amount of consideration supplied by the sponsor.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving priority information from a second sponsor;

determining, based on the priority information received from the second sponsor, that the second sponsor fails to meet a minimum consideration for a second message to be prioritized in the message collection; and

not prioritizing the second message in the message collection.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein priority information is received from a first sponsor and priority information is received from a second sponsor and a message associated with the first sponsor is prioritized over a message associated with the second sponsor in the message collection based on the amount of consideration associated with the priority information from the first sponsor and the amount of consideration associated with the priority information receive from the second sponsor.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein priority information is received from a first sponsor and priority information is received from a second sponsor and wherein the method further comprises:

determining that there is not sufficient message inventory to include both a message associated with the first sponsor and a message associated with the second sponsor in the message collection; and

prioritizing the message associated with the first sponsor in the message collection and not including the message associated with the second sponsor in the message collection, based on an amount of consideration associated with the priority information from the first sponsor and amount of consideration associated with the priority information receive from the second sponsor.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message is an ephemeral message and wherein the duration of the ephemeral message is based on the received priority information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the sponsor is an owner of a brand.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein prioritization of the first message in the message collection according to the received priority information includes placing the first message in a favorable presentation in the form of an early placement in a sequence of the messages in the message collection, or in the form of a message of a relatively long duration in a sequence of ephemeral messages.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority information includes a favorable weight ascribed to a message based on a bid amount received from an advertiser.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving bid amounts for brand messages or advertisements; and

prioritizing the brand messages or advertisements in the message collection based on the bid amounts received.

12. The server computer of claim 10, wherein the priority information is a function of the amount of consideration supplied by the sponsor.

13. The server computer of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

receiving priority information from a second sponsor;

determining, based on the priority information received from the second sponsor, that the second sponsor fails to meet a minimum consideration for a second message to be prioritized in the message collection; and

not prioritizing the second message in the message collection.

14. The server computer of claim 10, wherein priority information is received from a first sponsor and priority information is received from a second sponsor and a message associated with the first sponsor is prioritized over a message associated with the second sponsor in the message collection based on the amount of consideration associated with the priority information from the first sponsor and the amount of consideration associated with the priority information receive from the second sponsor.

15. The server computer of claim 10, wherein priority information is received from a first sponsor and priority information is received from a second sponsor and wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that there is not sufficient message inventory to include both a message associated with the first sponsor and a message associated with the second sponsor in the message collection; and

prioritizing the message associated with the first sponsor in the message collection and not including the message associated with the second sponsor in the message collection, based on an amount of consideration associated with the priority information from the first sponsor and amount of consideration associated with the priority information receive from the second sponsor.

16. The server computer of claim 10, wherein the first message is an ephemeral message and wherein the duration of the ephemeral message is based on the received priority information.

17. The server computer of claim 10, wherein prioritization of the first message in the message collection according to the received priority information includes placing the first message in a favorable presentation in the form of an early placement in a sequence of the messages in the message collection, or in the form of a message of a relatively long duration in a sequence of ephemeral messages.

18. The server computer of claim 10, wherein the priority information includes a favorable weight ascribed to a message based on a bid amount received from an advertiser.

19. The server computer of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

receiving bid amounts for brand messages or advertisements; and

prioritizing the brand messages or advertisements in the message collection based on the bid amounts received.

11. A server computer to process messages, the server computer comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the server computer to perform operations comprising;

receiving priority information from at least one sponsor, the priority information to be used in determining a priority of one or more messages received from a plurality user devices;

creating a message collection using a plurality of messages received from the plurality of user devices;

determining, based on the priority information received from the at least one sponsor, whether a first message in the message collection meets a minimum consideration to be prioritized in the message collection;

prioritizing the first message in the message collection when the first message meets the minimum consideration to be prioritized in the message collection and according to the received priority information; and

not prioritizing the first message in the message collection when the first message does not meet the minimum consideration to be prioritized in the message collection.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that are executable by at least one processor to cause a computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving priority information from at least one sponsor, the priority information to be used in determining a priority of one or more messages received from a plurality user devices;

creating a message collection using a plurality of messages received from the plurality of user devices;

determining, based on the priority information received from the at least one sponsor, whether a first message in the message collection meets a minimum consideration to be prioritized in the message collection;

prioritizing the first message in the message collection when the first message meets the minimum consideration to be prioritized in the message collection and according to the received priority information; and

not prioritizing the first message in the message collection when the first message does not meet the minimum consideration to be prioritized in the message collection.