Automatically providing a communication based on location information for a user of a social networking system

• US 8,719,346 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• 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 S., Slee, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US13/618,856
• Publication Number:
  US 20130013693A1
• Time in Patent Office: 599 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/217, 709/219, 709/218, 709/210, 709/207
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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 for a device associated with a first user of the social networking system;

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

sending, from the social networking system to a second user, a communication generated based at least in part on the location information, the communication describing an action of the first user related to a geographic location represented by the location information.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second user has a social networking connection to the first user over the social network system.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein associating the location information comprises storing the location information in the user profile associated with the first user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information is a story providing information about the first user based at least in part on the location information.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein sending the communication generated based at least in part on the location information to the second user comprises:

determining a physical address based at least in part on the location information; and

sending at least the physical address to the second user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a video associated with the location information.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes audio associated with the location information.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a photograph associated with the location information.

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

determining a location name based on a location identifier included in the location information; and

wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes the location name.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information provides information about a place at a geographic location represented by the location information.

11. A computer system, comprising:

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

a communication module configured to receive location information for a device associated with a first user of a social networking system, and send, to a second user, a communication generated based at least in part on the location information, the communication describing an action of the first user related to a geographic location represented by the location information; and

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

a processor to execute the modules.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the second user has a social networking connection to the first user over the social network system.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information is a story providing information about the first user based at least in part on the location information.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication module is configured to:

determine a physical address based at least in part on the location information; and

send at least the physical address to the second user.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a video associated with the location information.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes audio associated with the location information.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a photograph associated with the location information.

18. The system of claim 11:

wherein the communication module is configured to determine a location name based on a location identifier included in the location information; and

wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes the location name.