AUTOMATED SCREEN SAVER WITH SHARED MEDIA
First Claim
1. A method of providing a screen saver comprising shared content among users in a social network, said method comprising:
- querying a social network service for users and groups in a social network that are of interest to a user;
querying the social network service to identify sources of shared content for the users and groups that are of interest to the user;
querying the identified sources for content that is eligible for sharing in a screen saver;
selecting content for the user from the identified sources; and
distributing the selected content to the user in the social network for display in the screen saver.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention provide users in a social network with a screen saver constructed by media shared by their contacts and groups in a social network. The present invention provides a shared photo album that displays images from a user'"'"'s own photo collection, and that of their social network automatically. For a user, the social network service queries its database to retrieve a list of photo sources. The sources of images may be online photo sharing services, other computers with photos on their local hard drives, and public peer-to-peer storage services. The images may be displayed to the user and optionally may be accompanied with information, such as the owner of the photo or descriptive phrases or comments about the photo. The social network service may be configured to continuously or periodically request photos to update the screen saver.
187 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of providing a screen saver comprising shared content among users in a social network, said method comprising:
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querying a social network service for users and groups in a social network that are of interest to a user; querying the social network service to identify sources of shared content for the users and groups that are of interest to the user; querying the identified sources for content that is eligible for sharing in a screen saver; selecting content for the user from the identified sources; and distributing the selected content to the user in the social network for display in the screen saver. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer comprising:
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an interface to a social network service enrolled by the user; and a screen saver application configured to receive content for the screen saver from the social network service and display the received content as a screen saver for the computer. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A social network system configured to automatically construct content for a screen saver for users of the social network system, said system comprising:
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a database comprising information that identifies users of the social network system and sources of content available to the users; and an application configured to determine a social network of a user, identify sources of shared content for the users and groups that are of interest to the user, retrieve the shared content, selecting content for the user from the identified sources, and distribute the selected content to the user for display in the screen saver. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification