Systems and Methods to Control the Lifetime of Online Posts

• US 20150188873A1
• Filed: 12/31/2014
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Erodr, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Erodr, Inc.
• Inventors: Halliday, Drew Duncan, Halliday, Andrew Robert, Rubin, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,866,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Systems and methods to control the lifetime of social networking posts. The viewable range and/or duration of a post is determined as a function (e.g., Gaussian) of the viewer location/position relative to the post location/position and other factors, such as, local content density power of the poster, net likes, etc. The expiration time of the post at the viewer location/position is extended when content density is low, and reduced when content density is high. Posts are retained for a fixed duration in server; and zone-relevant content is delivered to clients based on local content density. Content from distant cells is highlighted by graphics that distinguish it from local range posts.

Claims

1. A method implemented on a mobile computing device, the method comprising:

retrieving, by the mobile computing device from a server computer over a wireless communication network, a set of candidate posts, wherein each respective post of the candidate posts has a post location and a post time;

determining, by the mobile computing device, a current location of the mobile computing device;

computing, by the mobile computing device, a lifetime duration of the respective post as a function of a distance between the post location and the current location of the mobile computing device; and

determining, by the mobile computing device, whether or not to present the respective post based on the lifetime duration, the post time and a current time.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the mobile computing device, a remaining lifetime of the respective post based on subtracting, from the lifetime duration, a time duration between the post time and the current time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the function is configured to provide a maximum lifetime duration for the respective post at the post location and a decreasing lifetime duration at an increasing distance of the mobile computing device from the post location.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

presenting, by the mobile computing device, the respective post on a user interface of the mobile computing device, in response to a determination that the remaining lifetime of the respective post is positive.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

presenting, by the mobile computing device, the respective post on a user interface of the mobile computing device for a duration according to the remaining lifetime of the respective post.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the function is an analytical function.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the analytical function is a Gaussian function based on the distance between the post location and the current location of the mobile computing device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein in the Gaussian function the distance is scaled based on a distance parameter of the respective post and an influence parameter.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the influence parameter is a function of a count of net likes of the respective post in a social networking environment hosted on the server computer.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein increasing the count of net likes increases the lifetime duration.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the influence parameter is a function of a count of net dislikes of the respective post in a social networking environment hosted on the server computer.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein increasing the count of net dislikes decreases the lifetime duration.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the influence parameter is a poster density indicator at the current location of the mobile computing device.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the influence parameter is a function of influence power of an author of the respective post.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the influence parameter is a function of previous posting record of an author of the respective post.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein in the Gaussian function the lifetime duration of the respective post is proportional to one of:

a function of a count of net likes of the respective post in a social networking environment hosted on the server computer;

a function of a count of net dislikes of the respective post in the social networking environment hosted on the server computer;

a function of influence power of an author of the respective post; and

a function of previous posting record of the author of the respective post

17. The method of claim 8, wherein in the Gaussian function the lifetime duration of the respective post is inversely proportional to a poster density indicator at the post location.

18. A non-transitory computer storage media storing instructions configured to instruct a mobile computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

retrieving, by the mobile computing device from a server computer over a wireless communication network, a set of candidate posts, wherein each respective post of the candidate posts has a post location and a post time;

determining, by the mobile computing device, a current location of the mobile computing device;

computing, by the mobile computing device, a lifetime duration of the respective post as a function of a distance between the post location and the current location of the mobile computing device; and

determining, by the mobile computing device, whether or not to present the respective post based on the lifetime duration, the post time and a current time.

19. A mobile computing apparatus, comprising:

a location determination device configured to determine a current location of the mobile computing device;

a wireless communication device configured to retrieve, from a server computer over a wireless communication network, a set of candidate posts, wherein each respective post of the candidate posts has a post location and a post time;

an output device;

at least one microprocessor; and

a memory storing instructions configured to instruct the at least one microprocessor to;

compute a lifetime duration of the respective post as a function of a distance between the post location and the current location of the mobile computing device; and

determine whether or not to present the respective post on the output device based on the lifetime duration, the post time and a current time.

20. The mobile computing apparatus, wherein the location determination device comprises a global positioning system (GPS) receiver;

and the output device comprises a touch-sensitive display device.