Determining mobile content for a social network based on location and time

• US 7,917,154 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2006
• Issued: 03/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Birnie, Paul Robert, Fortescue, Murray Blake
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost; Dwayne D
• Assistant Examiner(s): DEAN, JR, JOSEPH E
• Application Number:
  US11/555,675
• Publication Number:
  US 20080102856A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,609 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A device, system, and method are directed towards updating location information for a social network. A request for the location information associated with a GPS coordinate is received from a client device associated with a member of the social network. In response to the request, a location name associated with another member of the social network is provided to the client device based on the GPS coordinate. Another location name may be received from the client device. The other location name may be associated with the GPS coordinate and with the member in the social network. Thus, the GPS coordinate and/or member may be associated with a plurality of location names. A location description may also be received and associated with the location name and with the member in the social network.

Claims

1. A method for providing location description over a network, comprising:

receiving from a client device associated with a member of a social network, a request for location information in the social network associated with a GPS coordinate;

providing to the client device, in response to the request for the location information, a location name associated with another member of the social network based on the GPS coordinate;

receiving from the client device, in response to the provided location name, another location name;

associating the other location name with the GPS coordinate and with the member in the social network, to enable another request for the location information associated with the GPS coordinate to return at least the location name and the other location name, wherein associating the other location name includes increasing a relevancy score for an association between the other location name and the GPS coordinate, and wherein the relevancy score represents a closeness that is based on both the association between the GPS coordinate and the other location name and a frequency of an identification of the GPS coordinate by at least the other location name within the social network; and

in response to the other request for the location information, providing the location name and at least the other location name, ordered based on the relevancy score and a degree of separation between the member and the other member within the social network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for location information is further associated with search criteria that includes a query string, a search distance, a search time, a rating level, a community filter for the social network, or a time of last update of the location name or of the location description.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the client device, location description; and

associating the location description with the location name and with the other member to enable another searching of the social network based on the location description.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein associating the location description further comprises:

determining a local time based on the GPS coordinate and on a time of receiving the other location name; and

associating the local time with the location name in the social network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein increasing the relevancy score is based at least in part on a frequency of receiving the other location name.

6. A method for providing location description over a network, comprising:

receiving from a client device associated with a member of a social network, a request for location information in the social network associated with a GPS coordinate;

providing to the client device, in response to the request for the location information, a location name associated with another member of the social network based on the GPS coordinate;

receiving from the client device, in response to the provided location name, another location name;

associating the other location name with the GPS coordinate and with the member in the social network, to enable another request for the location information associated with the GPS coordinate to return at least the location name and the other location name; and

in response to the other request for the location information, providing the location name and at least the other location name, ordered based on a degree of separation between the member and the other member within the social network;

wherein receiving, from the client device, the other location name further comprises;

providing, to the client device, a selection list of possible location names based on a history of location names entered at a location within a proximity to the GPS coordinate and at a time within a range of a local time; and

receiving from the client device, the other location name selected from the selection list.

7. A network device for providing location description over a network, comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data over the network; and

a processor that is operative to perform actions, comprising;

receiving a first geographical coordinate identifying a geographical location of a client device;

providing to the client device associated with a member of the social network, a location name associated with a second geographical coordinate stored in the social network, wherein the first geographical coordinate is within a proximity to the second geographical coordinate;

receiving from the client device, another location name;

associating the other location name with the first geographical coordinate in the social network, including increasing a relevancy score for an association between the other location name and the first geographical coordinate, and wherein the relevancy score represents a closeness that is based on both the association between the first geographical coordinate and the other location name and a frequency of an identification of the first geographical coordinate by at least the other location name within the social network; and

in response to a request for location information associated with the geographical location, providing the location name and at least the other location name, ordered based on the relevancy score and a degree of separation between the member and the other member within the social network.

8. The network device of claim 7, wherein the location description comprises at least one of a tag, a comment, a remark, a rating, a time, a word, a set of words, or a multimedia content.

9. The network device of claim 7, wherein the processor is further operative to perform actions comprising:

enabling, another member to search the social network for the other location name based in part on a degree of separation between the member and the other member.

10. The network device of claim 7, wherein the processor is further operative to perform actions comprising:

receiving, from the client device, location description; and

associating the location description with the location name or with the other location name in the social network to enable searching of the social network using the location description.

11. The network device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further operative to perform actions comprising:

providing to the client device a selection list of possible location names based on a history of location names entered at a location within a proximity to the geographical coordinate and at a time within a range of a local time associated with the geographical coordinate, wherein the received other location name is selected from the selection list.

12. The network device of claim 7, wherein updating the relevancy score is based at least in part on a frequency of receiving the other location name.

13. The network device of claim 7, wherein the client device is a mobile device.

14. A system for providing location description over a network, comprising:

a geo-location search component (GSC) operable to perform actions comprising;

receiving a first request for a plurality of location names to be found in a social network based on a GPS coordinate associated with a member of a social network;

providing a location name associated with another member of the social network and with the GPS coordinate;

receiving another location name to be associated with the GPS coordinate; and

sending to a geo-location tracking (GLT) component an association request to associate the other location name with the GPS coordinate in the social network; and

the GLT component in communication with the GSC and operable to perform actions comprising;

associating the other location name with the GPS coordinate in the social network, in response to the association request to associate the location name, including increasing a relevancy score for an association between the other location name and the GPS coordinate, wherein the relevancy score represents a closeness that is based on both the association between the GPS coordinate and the other location name and a frequency of an identification of the GPS coordinate by at least the other location name within the social network, and wherein the association enables the GSC to provide the location name and at least the other location name in response to a second request for the plurality of location names, ordered based on a degree of separation between the member and the other member within the social network.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the GSC is further operative to perform actions comprising:

receiving a rating or review to be associated with the location name; and

requesting a rating and review component to associate the rating or review with the location name.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the GSC is further operative to perform actions comprising:

receiving the second request for the plurality of location names to be found in a social network based on the GPS coordinate;

providing, in response to the second request, at least the location name and the other location name in the plurality of location names, wherein the plurality of location names is further ordered based on a comparison of a frequency of an update of the location name with another frequency of another update of the other location name.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the GSC is further operative to perform actions further comprising:

providing a selection list of possible location names based on a history of location names entered at a location within a proximity to the GPS coordinate and at a time within a range of a local time.

18. An article of manufacture including a non-transitory processor readable storage medium having processor executable instructions for providing location description over a network, the processor executable instructions configured to enable a processor to perform actions, comprising:

providing, to a mobile device, a location name associated with a member of the social network based on a geographical coordinate;

receiving, from the mobile device, an update of information associated with the location name and the geographical coordinate;

if the update of information includes another location name;

associating the other location name with the geographical coordinate and with the member in the social network, including increasing a relevancy score for an association between the other location name and the geographical coordinate, wherein the relevancy score represents a closeness that is based on both the association between the geographical coordinate and the other location name and a frequency of an identification of the geographical coordinate by at least the other location name within the social network, and wherein the association enables at least the location name and the other location name to be provided in response to a request for the information associated with the geographical coordinate, ordered based on the relevancy score; and

if the update of information includes location description;

associating the location description with the location name and with the member in the social network.

19. The processor readable medium of claim 18, wherein the location description is a comment about the location name, and wherein the actions further comprises:

sending the comment to the member over a mode of communication.

20. The processor readable medium of claim 18, wherein the mode of communication is determined by a preference of the member.