Creating a Social Network Message from an Interface of a Mobile Device Operating System

• US 20130326368A1
• Filed: 06/05/2012
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Voas, Edward, Lam, Justin
• Granted Patent: US 9,818,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/60 Business processes related to postal services shipping G06Q10/083; franking apparatus G07B17/00

Abstract

A mobile device operating system level routine obtains social network access parameters that allow access to one or more social network accounts of a user of the device. The access parameters are stored in operating system level memory of the mobile device. Through an operating system interface of the mobile device, a user can create a social network message to be communicated via the one or more social network accounts using the stored access parameters. A single social network message may be communicated via multiple social network accounts with multiple social network platforms. The uniform operating system interface allows a user to communicate messages via multiple social network accounts without using multiple user level applications.

Claims

1. A non-transitory program storage device, readable by a processor and comprising operating system instructions stored thereon to cause the processor to:

obtain, by an operating system of a mobile device, access parameters for one or more social network accounts;

store, by the operating system, the access parameters in a memory of the mobile device that is designated for use by the operating system;

provide, by the operating system, an operating system interface to allow input of a social network message; and

communicate, by the operating system and using the access parameters, the social network message via at least one of the one or more social network accounts.

2. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the operating system instructions to cause the processor to obtain access parameters for one or more social network accounts comprise operating system instructions to cause the processor to obtain social network credentials for one or more social network accounts from a user.

3. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 2, wherein the operating system instructions to cause the processor to obtain social network credentials for one or more social network accounts from a user comprise operating system instructions to cause the processor to prompt the user to enter each of the one or more social network credentials through a user interface of the mobile device.

4. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 2, wherein the operating system instructions to cause the processor to obtain social network credentials for one or more social network accounts from a user comprise operating system instructions to retrieve a mobile device setting from the memory of the mobile device that is designated for use only by the operating system.

5. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 2, wherein the operating system instructions to cause the processor to obtain access parameters for one or more social network accounts comprise operating system instructions to cause the processor to:

send a social network credential corresponding to a first social network account to a first server-side social network application; and

receive, from the first server-side social network application and in response to the sent social network credential, a social network token corresponding to the first social network account.

6. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the operating system instructions to cause the processor to store the access parameters comprise operating system instructions to cause the processor to store the access parameters in an area of the memory that is inaccessible to application software installed on the mobile device.

7. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the operating system instructions to cause the processor to store the access parameters comprise operating system instructions to cause the processor to store the access parameters in an area of the memory that is designated for use only by the operating system and, further, dedicated to storing access parameters for a social network platform to which the access parameters correspond.

8. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the operating system instructions to cause the processor to provide an operating system interface to allow input of a social network message comprise operating system instructions to cause the processor to determine one or more social network platforms to which the one or more social network accounts correspond.

9. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 8, wherein the operating system instructions to cause the processor to provide an interface to allow input of a social network message comprise operating system instructions to cause the processor to display only the one or more social network platforms to which the one or more social network accounts correspond.

10. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 1, wherein the operating system instructions to cause the processor to communicate the social network message further comprise operating system instructions to cause the processor to communicate the message via a plurality of the social network accounts.

11. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by an operating system of a mobile device, credentials for a social network identity of a user of the mobile device;

sending, by the mobile device, the credentials to a server-side social network application;

receiving, by the mobile device, a token that allows the mobile device to communicate with the server-side social network application on behalf of the user;

storing, by the mobile device, the token within a memory of the mobile device that is designated for use by the operating system;

providing, by the operating system, an operating system interface to allow input of a message; and

sending, by the mobile device, the message and the token to the server-side social network application.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the act of obtaining the credentials for the social network identity comprises obtaining the credentials from a client-side social network application installed on the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the act of storing the token within a memory of the mobile device comprises storing the token within a section of the memory that is dedicated to storing a token received from the server-side social network application.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the token is specific to the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the act of providing an operating system interface to allow input of a message comprises providing an operating system interface that enables the user to select multiple social network identities for which credentials have been obtained from the user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the act of sending the message comprises communicating the message via each of the selected social network identities.

17. A non-transitory program storage device, readable by a processor and comprising instructions stored thereon to cause the processor to:

display, on a display element of a mobile device, an interface of an operating system of the mobile device that comprises one or more selectable icons, each icon representing one or more social network accounts of a user of the mobile device;

receive a selection of one or more icons representing two or more social network accounts;

display, on the display element and in response to receiving the selection, a text entry field;

receive a message entered in the text entry field; and

transmit the message as a social network message via the two or more social network accounts corresponding to the one or more selected icons.

18. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 17, wherein the operating system interface comprises a selectable icon that represents all of the social network accounts of the user.

19. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 18, wherein the instructions to cause the processor to transmit the message as a social network message via the two or more social network accounts corresponding to the one or more selected icons comprise instructions to cause the processor to transmit the message as a social network message via all of the user'"'"'s social network accounts in response to a selection of the icon that represents all of the social network accounts of the user.

20. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 17, wherein the instructions to cause the processor to transmit the message as a social network message via the two or more social network accounts corresponding to the one or more selected icons comprise instructions to cause the processor to retrieve credentials that are stored on the mobile device for the two or more social network accounts corresponding to the one or more selected icons.