Displaying Social Networking System User Information Via a Timeline Interface

• US 20130073984A1
• Filed: 09/21/2011
• Published: 03/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Josh Wiseman, William Joseph Iii Flynn
• Inventors: Lessin, Samuel, Flynn, William Joseph III, Gibson, Daniel Klatzko, Guzel, Burak, Hamlin, Drew W., Huang, Jeff, McDonald, Paul M., Parker, Stefan, Vijayvergiya, Arun, Wiseman, Josh, Young, Steven, Yung, Raylene Kay, Zuckerberg, Mark E., Yang, Zizhuang, Yeh, Wei Zhong
• Granted Patent: US 9,946,430 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

The invention provides a display interface in a social networking system that enables the presentation of information related to a user in a timeline or map view. The system accesses information about a user of a social networking system, including both data about the user and social network activities related to the user. The system then selects one or more of these pieces of data and/or activities from a certain time period and gathers them into timeline units based on their relatedness and their relevance to users. These timeline units are ranked by relevance to the user, and are used to generate a timeline or map view for the user containing visual representations of the timeline units organized by location or time. The timeline or map view is then provided to other users of the social networking system that wish to view information about the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing information about a plurality of items of narrative data related to users of a social networking system, each item of narrative data associated with a time and with a subject user of a social networking system;

selecting, for each of a plurality of time periods, one or more of the items of narrative data associated with a time within the time period;

generating a plurality of timeline units for each of the time periods based on the selected items of narrative data from the at least one time period;

receiving, from a client device operated by a viewing user, a request for a profile page of the subject user; and

responsive to receiving the request;

selecting a plurality of the generated timeline units,

generating a timeline interface comprising visual representations of the selected plurality of timeline units organized by the corresponding time periods, and

sending, to the client device for display to the viewing user, the profile page for the subject user, the profile page comprising the generated timeline interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated timeline interface enables the subject user to remove an individual timeline unit from the timeline interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the removal of a timeline unit from the timeline interface is used as a signal to train a machine-learned model used for selecting the timeline units.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated timeline interface enables the subject user to indicate a preference for an individual timeline unit in the timeline interface.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the indication of a preference for an individual timeline unit in the timeline interface is used as a signal to train a machine-learned model used for selecting the timeline units.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated timeline interface enables a user to share an individual timeline unit with another user of the social networking system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated timeline interface further comprises a means for selecting a time period from a sequence of time periods, and wherein the method further comprises, responsive to the viewing user selecting a time period:

generating an updated timeline interface comprising visual representations of one or more timeline units generated from narrative data associated with a time within the selected time period; and

sending to the client device, for display to the viewing user, a profile page for the subject user, the profile page comprising the updated timeline interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting one or more generated timeline units further comprises:

determining if the viewing user has permission to view the narrative data used to generate a timeline unit, based on the privacy settings of the subject user;

responsive to the determination, removing from a selection a timeline unit that was generated using narrative data that the viewing user does not have permission to view; and

responsive to the removal, adding to the selection a replacement timeline unit.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual representations of the generated timeline units further comprise:

information summary elements that summarize the narrative data that the timeline units are generated from; and

navigation aids that direct the viewing user to additional information about the narrative data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the information summary elements comprise at least one item selected from the group consisting of:

image thumbnails, text extracts, video frame captures, and GIF animations.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the navigation aids comprise at least one item selected from the group consisting of:

web links, tabs, and buttons.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated timeline interface further comprises:

a time period selector configured to enable the viewing user to select a time period;

one or more timeline markers that indicate the positions of the one or more selected generated timeline units on a timeline; and

one or more muted markers that indicate the positions of the one or more generated timeline units on the timeline that were not selected.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the time period selector further comprises a plurality of selectable time periods, and the selectable time periods are more prominently displayed when the corresponding time period contains more relevant narrative data.

14. A method comprising:

receiving, from a client device operated by a viewing user of social networking system, a request for a timeline interface for a subject user of a social networking system, the request including a designated time period;

responsive to receiving the request;

selecting a plurality of timeline units stored in computer memory, the timeline units generated from items of narrative data related to users of a social networking system, each item of narrative data associated with a time within the designated time period and with the subject user;

generating a timeline interface comprising visual representations of the selected plurality of timeline units; and

sending, to the client device for display to the viewing user, the generated timeline interface.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the visual representations of the generated timeline units further comprise:

information summary elements that summarize the narrative data that the timeline units are generated from; and

navigation aids that direct the viewing user to additional information about the narrative data.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the generated timeline interface further comprises a means for selecting a time period from a sequence of time periods and responsive to the viewing user selecting a time period:

generating an updated timeline interface comprising visual representations of one or more timeline units generated from narrative data associated with a time within the selected time period;

sending to the client device, for display to the viewing user, a profile page for the subject user, the profile page comprising the updated timeline interface.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein selecting one or more timeline units stored in computer memory further comprises:

determining if the viewing user has permission to view the narrative data used to generate a timeline unit, based on the privacy settings of the subject user;

responsive to the determination, removing from a selection a timeline unit that was generated using narrative data that the viewing user does not have permission to view; and

responsive to the removal, adding to the selection a replacement timeline unit.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the visual representations of the generated timeline units further comprise:

information summary elements that summarize the narrative data that the timeline units are generated from; and

navigation aids that direct the viewing user to additional information about the narrative data.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the information summary elements comprise at least one selected from the group consisting of:

image thumbnails, text extracts, video frame captures, and GIF animations.

20. A method comprising:

accessing information about a plurality of items of narrative data related to users of a social networking system, each item of narrative data associated with a time and with at least one subject user from a common timeline group, the common timeline group comprising two or more subject users of the social networking system;

selecting, for each of a plurality of time periods, one or more of the items of narrative data associated with a time within the time period;

generating one or more timeline units for the time periods based on the selected items of narrative data from the time periods;

receiving, from a client device operated by a viewing user, a request for a common timeline interface for the common timeline group; and

responsive to receiving the request;

selecting one or more of the generated timeline units,

generating a common timeline interface comprising visual representations of the selected timeline units, organized by the corresponding time periods, and

sending, to the client device for display to the viewing user, the generated common timeline interface.