DETERMINING MOBILE CONTENT FOR A SOCIAL NETWORK BASED ON LOCATION AND TIME

• US 20110159890A1
• Filed: 03/07/2011
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Birnie, Paul Robert, Fortescue, Murray Blake
• Granted Patent: US 8,260,315 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A device, system, and method are directed towards updating location information for a social network. A request for the location information associated with a GPS coordinate is received from a client device associated with a member of the social network. In response to the request, a location name associated with another member of the social network is provided to the client device based on the GPS coordinate. Another location name may be received from the client device. The other location name may be associated with the GPS coordinate and with the member in the social network. Thus, the GPS coordinate and/or member may be associated with a plurality of location names. A location description may also be received and associated with the location name and with the member in the social network.

Claims

1. A method for providing location description over a network, wherein the method is performed by a network device that enables actions comprising:

in response to a request for information regarding a geographic coordinate from a first member of a social network, providing a location name to the first member, wherein the location name is associated by a second member of the social network with the geographic coordinate;

receiving another location name that is provided by the first member for association with the geographic coordinate;

in response to another request for location information associated with the geographic coordinate, providing at least the location name and the other location name and a relevancy score, and wherein the relevancy score represents at least a frequency of an identification of the geographic coordinate by at least the other location name by at least one member of the social network; and

in response to the other request for the location information, providing the location name and at least the other location name based on at least the relevancy score and a degree of separation between the first member and the second member of the social network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for location information is further associated with search criteria that includes a query string, a search distance, a search time, a rating level, a community filter for the social network, or a time of last update of the location name or of the location description.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a location description from the second member; and

associating the location description with the location name and with the second member to enable each member of the social network to search based on the location description.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the location description comprises at least one of a tag, a comment, a remark, a rating, a time, a word, a set of words, or a multimedia content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the actions further comprise providing the first member with a list of possible location names based on a history of location names entered at a location within a proximity to the geographic coordinate and at a time within a range of a local time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the relevancy score further represents a closeness that is based on both an association between the geographical coordinate and the other location name and the frequency of the identification of the geographical coordinate.

7. A network device for providing location description over a network, wherein the network device enables actions comprising:

in response to a request for information regarding a geographic coordinate from a first member of a social network, providing a location name to the first member, wherein the location name is associated by a second member of the social network with the geographic coordinate;

receiving another location name that is provided by the first member for association with the geographic coordinate;

in response to another request for location information associated with the geographic coordinate, providing at least the location name and the other location name and a relevancy score, and wherein the relevancy score represents at least a frequency of an identification of the geographic coordinate by at least the other location name by at least one member of the social network; and

in response to the other request for the location information, providing the location name and at least the other location name based on at least the relevancy score and a degree of separation between the first member and the second member of the social network.

8. The network device of claim 7, wherein the request for location information is further associated with search criteria that includes a query string, a search distance, a search time, a rating level, a community filter for the social network, or a time of last update of the location name or of the location description.

9. The network device of claim 7, wherein the actions further comprise:

receiving a location description from the second member; and

associating the location description with the location name and with the second member to enable another searching of the social network based on the location description.

10. The network device of claim 9, wherein the location description comprises at least one of a tag, a comment, a remark, a rating, a time, a word, a set of words, or a multimedia content.

11. The network device of claim 7, wherein the actions further comprise enabling each member to search the social network for the other location name based in part on at least the degree of separation between the first member and the second member.

12. The network device of claim 7, wherein the actions further comprise providing the first member with a list of possible location names based on a history of location names entered at a location within a proximity to the geographic coordinate and at a time within a range of a local time.

13. The network device of claim 7, wherein the relevancy score further represents a closeness that is based on both an association between the geographical coordinate and the other location name and the frequency of the identification of the geographical coordinate.

14. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory processor readable storage medium having instructions for providing location description over a network, wherein a processor executing the instructions enables actions, comprising:

in response to a request for information regarding a geographic coordinate from a first member of a social network, providing a location name to the first member, wherein the location name is associated by a second member of the social network with the geographic coordinate;

receiving another location name that is provided by the first member for association with the geographic coordinate;

in response to another request for location information associated with the geographic coordinate, providing at least the location name and the other location name and a relevancy score, and wherein the relevancy score represents at least a frequency of an identification of the geographic coordinate by at least the other location name by at least one member of the social network; and

in response to the other request for the location information, providing the location name and at least the other location name based on at least the relevancy score and a degree of separation between the first member and the second member of the social network.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the actions further comprise:

receiving a location description from the second member; and

associating the location description with the location name and with the second member to enable each member to search the social network based on the location description.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the actions further comprise providing the first member with a list of possible location names based on a history of location names entered at a location within a proximity to the geographic coordinate and at a time within a range of a local time.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein the relevancy score further represents a closeness that is based on both an association between the geographical coordinate and the other location name and the frequency of the identification of the geographical coordinate.

18. A system for providing location description over a network, comprising:

a server device, including;

a memory for storing instructions and data; and

a processor, wherein the execution of the instructions by the processor enables actions, comprising;

in response to receiving a request for information regarding a geographic coordinate from a client device associated with a first member of a social network, providing a location name to the first member, wherein the location name is associated by a second member of the social network with the geographic coordinate;

receiving another location name from the client device that is provided by the first member for association with the geographic coordinate;

in response to receiving from another client device another request for location information associated with the geographic coordinate, providing at least the location name and the other location name and a relevancy score to the at least another client device, and wherein the relevancy score represents at least a frequency of an identification of the geographic coordinate by at least the other location name by at least one member of the social network; and

in response to receiving from the other client device the other request for the location information, providing the location name and at least the other location name based on at least the relevancy score and a degree of separation between the first member and the second member of the social network.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the actions further comprise:

receiving a location description from the second member; and

associating the location description with the location name and with the second member to enable each member to search the social, network based on the location description.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the actions further comprise providing the first member with a list of possible location names based on a history of location names entered at a location within a proximity to the geographic coordinate and at a time within a range of a local time.