Location Ranking Using Social Graph Information

• US 20120190387A1
• Filed: 03/30/2012
• Published: 07/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Eyal M. Sharon, Joshua Redstone, Srinivasa P. Narayanan
• Inventors: Redstone, Joshua, Sharon, Eyal M., Narayanan, Srinivasa P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,438,156 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

In one embodiment, a user of a social networking system requests to check in a place near the user'"'"'s current location. The social networking system generates a list of places near the user'"'"'s current location, ranks the places in the list of places near the user'"'"'s current location by a distance between each place and the user'"'"'s current location, as well as activity of the user and the user'"'"'s social contacts for each place, and returns the ranked list to the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request including an identifier for a user of a social network and a geographic location;

accessing, using one or more processors, a data store of location information to identify one or more places in the vicinity of the geographic location;

accessing, using the one or more processors, for each place in the set of one or more places, one or more location-based user activity data items, each location-based user activity data item being based on activities of the user or activities of one or more social contacts of the user;

ranking, using the one or more processors, the one or more places based on at least the one or more location-based user activity data items; and

transmitting, based on the ranking, information associated with the one or more places.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a location-based user activity data item is based on a check-in by the user, a check-in by one or more social contacts of the user, or a global check-in by a global set of users.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a location-based user activity data item is based on a number of users that have been tagged in connection with a check-in.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a tagged user is only included in the number of users that have been tagged in connection with a check-in if the tagged user approves or acknowledges the check-in.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a location-based user activity data item is based on an indicated affinity of a social contact of the user with the geographic location.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the indicated affinity of a social contact of the user with the geographic location comprises an indication by the social contact that they like the geographic location.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the indicated affinity of a social contact of the user with the geographic location comprises a comment posted by the social contact on a web page associated with the geographic location.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location is identified by a name, a description, a category, a tag, location information, or any combination thereof.

9. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying logic that is operable when executed to:

receive a request including an identifier for a user of a social network and a geographic location;

access, using one or more processors, a data store of location information to identify one or more places in the vicinity of the geographic location;

access, using the one or more processors, for each place in the set of one or more places, one or more location-based user activity data items, each location-based user activity data item being based on activities of the user or activities of one or more social contacts of the user;

rank, using the one or more processors, the one or more places based on at least the one or more location-based user activity data items; and

transmit, based on the ranking, information associated with the one or more places.

10. The media of claim 9, wherein a location-based user activity data item is based on a check-in by the user, a check-in by one or more social contacts of the user, or a global check-in by a global set of users.

11. The media of claim 9, wherein a location-based user activity data item is based on a number of users that have been tagged in connection with a check-in.

12. The media of claim 11, wherein a tagged user is only included in the number of users that have been tagged in connection with a check-in if the tagged user approves or acknowledges the check-in.

13. The media of claim 9, wherein a location-based user activity data item is based on an indicated affinity of a social contact of the user with the geographic location.

14. The media of claim 13, wherein the indicated affinity of a social contact of the user with the geographic location comprises an indication by the social contact that they like the geographic location.

15. The media of claim 13, wherein the indicated affinity of a social contact of the user with the geographic location comprises a comment posted by the social contact on a web page associated with the geographic location.

16. The media of claim 9, wherein the geographic location is identified by a name, a description, a category, a tag, location information, or any combination thereof.

17. A system, comprising:

one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media encoded with instructions; and

one or more processors operable to execute the instructions to;

receive a request including an identifier for a user of a social network and a geographic location;

access, using one or more processors, a data store of location information to identify one or more places in the vicinity of the geographic location;

access, using the one or more processors, for each place in the set of one or more places, one or more location-based user activity data items, each location-based user activity data item being based on activities of the user or activities of one or more social contacts of the user;

rank, using the one or more processors, the one or more places based on at least the one or more location-based user activity data items; and

transmit, based on the ranking, information associated with the one or more places.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein a location-based user activity data item is based on a check-in by the user, a check-in by one or more social contacts of the user, or a global check-in by a global set of users.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein a location-based user activity data item is based on a number of users that have been tagged in connection with a check-in.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein a tagged user is only included in the number of users that have been tagged in connection with a check-in if the tagged user approves or acknowledges the check-in.