Systems and methods for automatically locating web-based social network members

• US 8,312,112 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2010
• Issued: 11/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stremel, Jed, Ramakrishnan, Thyagarajapuram, Slee, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US12/875,977
• Publication Number:
  US 20110004634A1
• Time in Patent Office: 802 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/207, 709/218, 709/204, 709/210
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/384 using social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• 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: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/023 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

Systems and methods for automatically locating web-based social network members are provided. According to one embodiment, contact content including an associated GPS identifier and status for web-based social network members located at or near the same location automatically appears on a GPS-enabled device. A further exemplary system includes a GPS-enabled device configured to receive a GPS identifier and a status representing a location and a current state for a web-based social network member, a processing module that associates the received GPS-identifier and the received status, and a communications module that sends the associated GPS-identifier and status to a server comprising a web-based social network database. Contact content in a web-based social network database record in the web-based social network database is updated to include the associated GPS identifier and status for the web-based social network member.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a social networking system, location information of a device accessed by a first user of a social networking service at a geographic location, the location information representing the geographic location of the first user;

associating the location information with the first user in a user profile associated with the first user of the social networking service after receiving the location information; and

sending, from the social networking system, a communication generated based at least in part on the location information for display to a second user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving status information provided by the first user at the device; and

associating the status information with the first user in the user profile.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising storing the status information and the location information of the first user in an entry of the user profile associated with the first user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the entry of the user profile further comprises contact information of the first user.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the status information comprises a media item.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the media item comprises a photograph.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a category of users or a list of users of the social networking service selected by the first user; and

allowing transmission of the location information to the second user responsive to determining that the second user is included in the category of users or the list of users.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication comprises a contact file representing contact information for the first user.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the device is a mobile computing device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the mobile computing device is GPS (Global Positioning System) enabled.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the location information comprises a GPS identifier.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining street addresses of the device by processing the location information.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information of the first user is selected from a list of locations.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising

storing an association between a string of characters and each location information;

determining a string of characters corresponding to the location information responsive to receiving the location information; and

including the string of characters in the communication.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the first user is in proximity to the second user based on the location information of the first user and location information of the second user; and

responsive to determining that the first user is in proximity to the second user, transmitting information about the first user to the second user.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a specification of an access device of the second user for accessing the social networking service; and

formatting the communication to the second user based on the received specification.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a query about the location information from a querying user; and

responding to the received query subject to privacy settings, wherein the privacy settings are based on a connection in the social networking system between the querying user and the first user.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising providing, for display, the location information on a profile page in the social networking system associated with the first user.

17. A computer system, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing modules that include;

a database module of a social networking system configured to associate location information with a first user in a user profile associated with the first user after receiving the location information of the first user, the location information representing a geographic location of the first user; and

a communication module of the social networking system configured to receive the location information of the first user from a device accessed by the first user at the geographic location, and to send a communication generated based at least in part on the location information to a second user for display; and

a processor to execute the modules.

18. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the communication module is further configured to receive status information provided by the first user at the device, and the database module is configured to associate the status information with the first user.

19. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the communication comprises a contact file representing contact information of the first user.

20. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the location information comprises a GPS identifier.

21. The computing system of claim 17, wherein the modules further include:

a privacy setting module configured to;

store a category of users or a list of users of the social networking service selected by the first user; and

allow transmission of the location information to the second user responsive to determining that the second user is included in the category of users or the list of users.

22. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the modules further include:

a query module configured to determine whether the first user is in proximity to the second user based on the location information of the first user and location information of the second user, and transmit information about the first user to the second user responsive to determining that the first user is in proximity to the second user.

23. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the modules further include:

a device user setting module configured to format the communication to the second user based on a specification of an access device of the second user for accessing the social networking service.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the communication module is further configured to:

receive a query about the location information from a querying user; and

respond to the received query subject to privacy settings, wherein the privacy settings are based on a connection in the social networking system between the querying user and the first user.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the communication module is further configured to provide, for display, the location information on a profile page in the social networking system associated with the first user.