EXPORT PERMISSIONS IN A CLAIMS-BASED SOCIAL NETWORKING SYSTEM

• US 20140101242A1
• Filed: 10/05/2012
• Published: 04/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lessin, Samuel
• Granted Patent: US 9,201,836 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0248 Avoiding fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• 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: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

A social graph, which records the actions of users in a social networking system platform, may be modeled at least in part as a collection of claims that may be exported to other systems, such as third party publishers, based on permissions granted by users and entities. The social networking system may also act as a publisher, enabling web applications and mobile applications to publish claims to a variety of audiences based on the permissions granted by users and entities, or agents of the social networking system. Permissions may be granted based on agreed-upon terms of service between agents, agents and publishers, agents and the social networking system platform, and publishers and the social networking system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of terms of service for an agent using a publisher to generate one or more claims in a social networking system platform;

generating a plurality of permissions for the agent based on the received plurality of terms of service;

receiving a request to export one or more claims generated by the agent to an external system outside of the social networking system platform; and

providing the one or more claims generated by the agent to the external system based on the plurality of permissions for the agent responsive to the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a plurality of terms of service for an agent using a publisher to generate one or more claims in a social networking system platform further comprises:

receiving the plurality of terms of service from the agent as a metadata object associated with the one or more claims generated by the agent through the publisher.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a plurality of terms of service for an agent using a publisher to generate one or more claims in a social networking system platform further comprises:

receiving the plurality of terms of service from the agent as a metadata object associated with the agent.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a plurality of terms of service for an agent using a publisher to generate one or more claims in a social networking system platform further comprises:

receiving the plurality of terms of service from the publisher as a metadata object associated with the one or more claims generated by the agent.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a plurality of terms of service for an agent using a publisher to generate one or more claims in a social networking system platform further comprises:

receiving the plurality of terms of service from the publisher as a metadata object associated with the agent.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a plurality of terms of service for an agent using a publisher to generate one or more claims in a social networking system platform further comprises:

receiving the plurality of terms of service as a metadata object associated with the one or more claims generated by the agent through an interface on the social networking system platform.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a plurality of permissions for the agent based on the received plurality of terms of service further comprises:

for each of the plurality of terms of service, determining an export permission for the one or more claims generated by the agent based on the each term.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a plurality of permissions for the agent based on the received plurality of terms of service further comprises:

determining an export permission for the one or more claims generated by the agent, the export permission comprising permitting an author agent of the one or more claims to download the one or more claims to one or more external systems.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a plurality of permissions for the agent based on the received plurality of terms of service further comprises:

determining an export permission for the one or more claims generated by the agent, the export permission comprising permitting an author agent of the one or more claims to export the one or more claims to one or more applications.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a plurality of permissions for the agent based on the received plurality of terms of service further comprises:

determining an export permission for the one or more claims generated by the agent, the export permission comprising permitting one or more audience agents of the one or more claims to export the one or more claims to one or more applications.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a plurality of permissions for the agent based on the received plurality of terms of service further comprises:

determining an export permission for the one or more claims generated by the agent, the export permission comprising permitting one or more audience agents of the one or more claims to export the one or more claims to the social networking system platform.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a plurality of permissions for the agent based on the received plurality of terms of service further comprises:

determining an export permission for the one or more claims generated by the agent, the export permission comprising excluding one or more agents from exporting the one or more claims to one or more external systems.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a plurality of permissions for the agent based on the received plurality of terms of service further comprises:

determining an export permission for the one or more claims generated by the agent, the export permission comprising excluding one or more agents from being able to export the one or more claims to one or more external systems.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a plurality of permissions for the agent based on the received plurality of terms of service further comprises:

determining an export permission for the one or more claims generated by the agent, the export permission comprising enabling a specified agent to update the plurality of permissions.

15. A method comprising:

receiving a terms of service agreement between an author agent and a publisher of a social networking system platform, the terms of service agreement including a plurality of terms for exporting claims generated by the author agent using the publisher to one or more external systems outside of the social networking system platform;

receiving a claim from the publisher, where the claim is authored by the author agent;

based on the terms of service agreement, generating one or more export permissions for the received claim;

receiving a request to export the received claim to a particular external system outside of the social networking system platform; and

providing the received claim to the particular external system based on the one or more export permissions for the received claim responsive to the request.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving a terms of service agreement between an author agent and a publisher of a social networking system platform further comprises:

providing a user interface on the social networking system platform for determining the plurality of terms for exporting claims generated by the author agent using the publisher included in the received terms of service agreement; and

receiving through the user interface a selection of the plurality of terms for exporting claims generated by the author agent using the publisher.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving a terms of service agreement between an author agent and a publisher of a social networking system platform further comprises:

providing an application programming interface on the social networking system platform for receiving the plurality of terms for exporting claims generated by the author agent using the publisher included in the received terms of service agreement; and

receiving through the application programming interface the plurality of terms for exporting claims generated by the author agent using the publisher.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving a terms of service agreement between an author agent and a publisher of a social networking system platform further comprises:

receiving the terms of service agreement as a metadata object received from the publisher, where the metadata object includes the plurality of terms for exporting claims generated by the author agent using the publisher.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving a claim from the publisher further comprises:

receiving one or more additional terms for the terms of service agreement as one or more metadata objects included in the received claim, where the one or more additional terms update the terms of service agreement.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein generating one or more export permissions for the received claim further comprises:

identifying one or more export permission terms included the terms of service agreement; and

generating the one or more export permissions for the received claim based on the identified one or more export permission terms included in the terms of service agreement.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein generating one or more export permissions for the received claim further comprises:

identifying one or more export permission terms included the terms of service agreement;

retrieving one or more previously generated export permissions for the author agent using the publisher; and

determining the one or more export permissions for the received claim based on the identified one or more export permission terms included in the terms of service agreement and the retrieved one or more previously generated export permissions for the author agent using the publisher.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the terms of service agreement includes no export permission terms and wherein generating one or more export permissions for the received claim further comprises:

retrieving one or more previously generated export permissions for the author agent using the publisher based on a default export permissions setting; and

determining the one or more export permissions for the received claim based on the retrieved one or more previously generated export permissions for the author agent using the publisher.

23. A method comprising:

receiving an agreement between an author agent and a target agent on a social networking system platform, the agreement including a plurality of terms for exporting claims generated by the author agent about the target agent to one or more external systems outside of the social networking system platform;

receiving a claim from the author agent, where the claim is about the target agent;

based on the agreement, generating one or more export permissions for the received claim;

receiving a request from a viewing agent of the social networking system platform to export the received claim;

responsive to the generated one or more export permissions allowing the viewing agent to export the received claim, exporting the received claim responsive to the request.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the author agent comprises a third-party developed application on the social networking system platform.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the author agent comprises a third-party publisher of the social networking system platform.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the author agent comprises an entity in the social networking system platform.

27. The method of claim 23, wherein the author agent comprises a user in the social networking system platform.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the target agent comprises a user in the social networking system platform.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein the target agent comprises an entity in the social networking system platform.

30. The method of claim 23, wherein the agreement includes no export permission terms and wherein generating one or more export permissions for the received claim further comprises:

generating one or more export permissions for the target agent based on a default export permissions privacy setting; and

determining the one or more export permissions for the received claim based on the generated one or more export permissions for the target agent.

31. The method of claim 23, wherein generating one or more export permissions for the received claim further comprises:

identifying one or more export permission terms included the agreement; and

generating the one or more export permissions for the received claim based on the identified one or more export permission terms included in the agreement.

32. The method of claim 23, wherein receiving a request from a viewing agent to export the received claim further comprises identifying one or more export permission terms included the agreement associated with the viewing agent, and wherein determining that the generated one or more export permissions allows the received claim to be exported further comprises determining that the identified one or more export permission terms included in the agreement associated with the viewing agent enables the received claim to be exported by the viewing agent.

33. The method of claim 23, wherein receiving a request from a viewing agent of the social networking system platform to export the received claim further comprises:

receiving the request from the viewing agent through a third-party application for viewing a plurality of information items in the social networking system platform, where the request identifies the received claim as one of the plurality of information items.

34. The method of claim 23, wherein receiving a request from a viewing agent of the social networking system platform to export the received claim further comprises:

receiving the request from the viewing agent through a third-party publisher for viewing a plurality of information items in the social networking system platform, where the request identifies the received claim as one of the plurality of information items.