Multimedia aggregation in an online social network

• US 7,680,882 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2007
• Issued: 03/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Friendster Incorporated (Mol.com Bhd.)
• Inventors: Tiu, William K. Jr., Roberto, Jeffrey J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Won; Michael
• Application Number:
  US11/682,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20080222199A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,106 Days
• Field of Search: 715/201, 715/234, 709/203, 709/217, 709/212, 709/216
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications

Abstract

Multimedia content is featured on user pages of an online social network using embed codes that are generated using a configuration file associated with the source ID for the multimedia content and a content ID for the multimedia content. The configuration file, the source ID and the content ID are stored locally by the online social network so that any changes to the embed codes can be made by changing the configuration file associated with the source and regenerating the embed codes. By managing multimedia content in this manner, greater control can be exercised by the online social network over the multimedia content that are featured on its user pages.

Claims

1. In a server computer that manages a database for an online social network, a method for generating a web page including a multimedia section in which multimedia content from a third party source can be displayed, comprising the steps of:

receiving a user selection of multimedia content of a third party source that is to be added to the multimedia section;

storing a source ID associated with the third party source, wherein the source ID identifies a configuration file associated with the third party source;

storing a content ID associated with the multimedia content;

generating an embed code for the multimedia content using the configuration file associated with the third party source and the content ID, wherein the configuration file specifies the format of the embed code and has a variable field into which the content ID is inserted; and

generating the web page including the multimedia section using the embed code.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the embed code is an HTML code that specifies a URL of the third party source associated with the source ID and the content ID.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein the web page comprises a profile page for one of the users of the online social network.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for the profile page from a client computer connected to the server computer; and

transmitting an HTML file containing the embed code to the client computer.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the profile page comprises the profile page for the user who selected the multimedia content.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the source ID and the content ID are stored in the user database and are associated with the user who selected the multimedia content.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user selection is received from the third party source through an API published by the online social network and comprises a user ID, password, the source ID, and the content ID.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of authenticating the user ID against the password, wherein the source ID and the content ID are stored after the step of authenticating.

9. In a server computer that manages a user database for an online social network, a method for generating a web page for a user of the online social network based on third party multimedia content aggregated by other users of the online social network, wherein each item of multimedia content is identified in the user database by a source ID associated with a third party source of said each item of multimedia content and a content ID associated with said each item of multimedia content, said method comprising the steps of:

retrieving source IDs and content IDs of multimedia content aggregated by other users of the online social network;

selecting at least one multimedia content aggregated by the other users of the online social network;

generating an embed code for the selected multimedia content using the source ID and the content ID of the selected multimedia content, wherein the source ID identifies a configuration file, and the configuration file specifies the format of the embed code and has a variable field into which the content ID is inserted; and

generating the web page using the embed code.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the embed code is an HTML code that specifies a URL of the third party source associated with the source ID and the content ID.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the web page comprises a profile page for said user of the online social network.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the at least one multimedia content is selected based on its popularity with other users of the online social network who are related to the user of the online social network by one degree of separation.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the at least one multimedia content is selected based on its popularity with all other users of the online social network who are related to the user of the online social network by at least two degrees of separation.

14. A web server computer for an online social network, comprising:

a database that stores content for a plurality of users of the online social network, the content for each of the users including profile information, a URL identifying a profile page that includes the profile information, and pointers to third party multimedia content; and

a processing unit that is programmed to generate the profile page for each of the users with the profile information and at least one pointer to third party multimedia content,

wherein each of the pointers to third party multimedia content includes a source ID associated with a source of the third party multimedia content and a content ID associated with the third party multimedia content, and the profile page includes an HTML embed code for the third party multimedia content that is generated using the source ID and the content ID, and

wherein the source ID associated with the source of the third party multimedia content identifies a configuration file, and the configuration file specifies the format of the HTML embed code, and includes a URL of the source of the third party multimedia content and a variable field into which the content ID is inserted.

15. The web server computer according to claim 14, wherein the database stores relationship data for each of the users, and the processing unit is programmed to generate the profile page for each of the users with reference to the relationship data.

16. The web server computer according to claim 15, wherein at least one pointer to third party multimedia content is selected for inclusion in the profile page of a user based on the popularity of the third party multimedia content with other users of the online social network who are related to the user by one degree of separation.

17. The web server computer according to claim 15, wherein at least one pointer to third party multimedia content is selected for inclusion in the profile page of a user based on the popularity of the third party multimedia content with all other users of the online social network who are related to the user by at least two degrees of separation.

18. The web server computer according to claim 14, wherein the HTML embed code specifies the URL of the source associated with the source ID and the content ID.