MULTIMEDIA AGGREGATION IN AN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK

• US 20100162375A1
• Filed: 03/08/2010
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Friendster Incorporated (Mol.com Bhd.)
• Inventors: TIU, William K. JR., Roberto, Jeffrey J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,600,453 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications

Abstract

Multimedia content is featured on user pages of an online social network using embed codes that are generated using a configuration file associated with the source ID for the multimedia content and a content ID for the multimedia content. The configuration file, the source ID and the content ID are stored locally by the online social network so that any changes to the embed codes can be made by changing the configuration file associated with the source and regenerating the embed codes. By managing multimedia content in this manner, greater control can be exercised by the online social network over the multimedia content that are featured on its user pages.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A method of generating a web page in a social network, comprising:

displaying on the web page a user profile information, the user profile information including identifying information of a user;

displaying on the web page friend information of one or more of the user'"'"'s friends, the friend information including access to content displayed at the respective friend'"'"'s web page; and

displaying on the web page multimedia content, wherein the multimedia content includes content from an external source.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the multimedia content includes a blog maintained by user, wherein the blog is maintained at the external source, and the content of the user'"'"'s blog is supplied from the external source to the web page.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the content of the user'"'"'s blog is supplied from the external source to the web page using an RSS feed.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the multimedia content includes photos and videos supplied from the external source.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the multimedia content is supplied from a third party source as the external source, and wherein each item of content supplied by the third party source is embedded with an associated source identification and content identification.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the multimedia content supplied by the third party source is received through an application programming interface (API) published by the social network, and the multimedia content supplied by the third party source is associated with a user identification and password.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising authenticating the user identification and password of the multimedia content, and wherein the source identification and content identification associated with the multimedia content are locally stored after authenticating.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the multimedia content is provided by a third party source and selected for display based on the popularity of the multimedia content with other users of the social network who are related to the user by at least two degrees of separation.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the multimedia content is provided by a third party source and selected for display based on the popularity of the multimedia content with other users of the social network who are related to the user by one degree of separation.

30. The method of claim 21, further comprising generating an embedded code for the multimedia content from the external source, wherein the embedded code specifies a URL of the external source.

31. A system for generating a web page in a social network, comprising:

a database system storing the web page and information of a user in the social network; and

a server unit for retrieving and displaying on the webpage;

user profile information stored in the database system, the user profile information including identifying information of the user,

friend information of one or more of the user'"'"'s friends stored in the database system, the friend information including access to content displayed at the respective friend'"'"'s web page; and

multimedia content stored in the database system, the multimedia content including content from an external source.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the multimedia content includes a blog maintained by user, wherein the blog is maintained at the external source, and the content of the user'"'"'s blog is supplied from the external source to the web page.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the content of the user'"'"'s blog is supplied from the external source to the web page using an RSS feed.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the multimedia content includes photos and videos supplied from the external source.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein the multimedia content is supplied from a third party source as the external source, and wherein each item of content supplied by the third party source is embedded with an associated source identification and content identification.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the multimedia content supplied by the third party source is received through an application programming interface (API) published by the social network, and the multimedia content supplied by the third party source is associated with a user identification and password.

37. The system of claim 36, the server unit is further configured to authenticate the user identification and password of the multimedia content, and wherein the source identification and content identification associated with the multimedia content are locally stored after authenticating.

38. The system of claim 31, wherein the multimedia content is provided by a third party source and selected for display based on the popularity of the multimedia content with other users of the social network who are related to the user by at least two degrees of separation.

39. The system of claim 31, wherein the multimedia content is provided by a third party source and selected for display based on the popularity of the multimedia content with other users of the social network who are related to the user by one degree of separation.

40. The system of claim 31, wherein the server unit is further configured to generate an embedded code for the multimedia content from the external source, wherein the embedded code specifies a URL of the external source.