Experience sharing in location-based social networking

• US 8,893,010 B1
• Filed: 12/08/2011
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Brin, Sergey, Lee, Steven John, Mendis, Indika Charles, Braun, Max Benjamin
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chowdhury, Rayeez
• Application Number:
  US13/314,177
• Time in Patent Office: 1,076 Days
• Field of Search: 715/738, 715/722
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/006 Mixed reality object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/006 Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06

Abstract

An exemplary computer-implemented method involves a computing device: (a) causing a graphic display to display a user-interface for accessing one or more experience-sharing sessions, wherein the user-interface is associated with a first user-account; (b) determining a location; (c) initiating a location-based search for one or more associated experience-sharing sessions, wherein each associated experience sharing session involves at least one second user-account that has a confirmed association with the first user-account, and wherein the location-based search is based on the determined location; and (d) causing the graphic display to display at least a portion of each of one or more associated experience-sharing sessions that result from the location-based search.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

displaying, by a first computing device, a user-interface on a graphic display, wherein the user-interface provides for simultaneous previews of a plurality of experience-sharing sessions, and wherein the user-interface is associated with a first user-account from a social network;

determining, by the first computing device, a geographic location that is associated with the first user-account;

initiating, by the first computing device, a location-based search within the social network for one or more associated experience-sharing sessions, wherein each associated experience sharing session corresponds to a second user-account from the social network, wherein the second user-account has a confirmed association with the first user-account, wherein at least one of the associated experience-sharing sessions comprises real-time point-of-view video captured by a camera on a head-mountable device (HMD) that is associated with one of the second user-accounts, and wherein the location-based search is based on the determined geographic location;

displaying, in the user-interface, at least a portion of each of one or more associated experience-sharing sessions that result from the location-based search, wherein the displayed portion of each experience-sharing session comprises a low-resolution real-time image feed based on real-time image data generated by one of the second computing devices, and wherein the displayed portion of each associated experience-sharing session is displayed, in the user-interface, at a location on a map that is associated with the corresponding second user-account; and

in response to a data input corresponding to the displayed portion of a first of the associated experience-sharing sessions, displaying a first interface for the first associated experience-sharing session on the graphic display, wherein the first interface comprises a high-resolution real-time image feed based on the real-time image data generated by the associated second computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location associated with the first user-account is a geographic location of the first computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-based search comprises a search for one or more associated experience-sharing sessions within a predetermined distance from the geographic location associated with the first user-account.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a location associated with the first user-account comprises:

determining a current geographic location of the computing device; and

determining a location-type of the current geographic location.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the location-based search comprises a search for one or more associated experience-sharing sessions that are at a location of the same location-type as the current geographic location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the geographic location comprises receiving input data that indicates the location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises displaying a graphic icon on the map at the geographic location of the computing device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving input data that indicates to include non-associated experience-sharing sessions in the location-based search; and

responsively including non-associated experience-sharing sessions when initiating the location-based search.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the graphic display to display at least a portion of each associated experience-sharing session in the user-interface comprises:

the computing device causing the graphic display to display a share preview of each associated experience-sharing session in the user-interface.

10. A system comprising:

at least one processor;

a non-transitory computer readable medium; and

program instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to;

display, on a graphic display, a user-interface that provides for simultaneous previews of a plurality of experience-sharing sessions, wherein the user-interface is associated with a first user-account from a social network;

determine a geographic location that is associated with the first user-account;

initiate a location-based search within the social network for one or more associated experience-sharing sessions, wherein each associated experience sharing session corresponds to a second user-account from the social network that has a confirmed association with the first user-account, wherein at least one of the associated experience-sharing sessions comprises real-time point-of-view video captured by a camera on a head-mountable device (HMD) that is associated with one of the second user-accounts, and wherein the location-based search is based on the determined geographic location;

display, in the user-interface, at least a portion of each of one or more associated experience-sharing sessions that result from the location-based search, wherein the displayed portion of each experience-sharing session comprises low-resolution real-time image feed based on real-time image data generated by one of the second computing devices, and wherein the displayed portion of each associated experience-sharing session is displayed in the user-interface at a location on a map that is associated with the corresponding second user-account; and

in response to a data input corresponding to the displayed portion of a first of the associated experience-sharing sessions, cause the graphic display to display a first interface for the first associated experience-sharing session on the graphic display, wherein the first interface comprises a high-resolution real-time image feed based on the real-time image data generated by the associated second computing device.

11. A system comprising:

means for displaying a user-interface on a graphic display of a first computing device, wherein user-interface provides for simultaneous previews of a plurality of experience-sharing sessions, wherein the user-interface is associated with a first user-account from a social network;

means for determining a geographic location that is associated with the first user-account;

means for initiating a location-based search within the social network for one or more associated experience-sharing sessions, wherein each associated experience sharing session corresponds to a second user-account from the social network that has a confirmed association with the first user-account, wherein at least one of the associated experience-sharing sessions comprises real-time point-of-view video captured by a camera on a head-mountable device (HMD) that is associated with one of the second user-accounts from the social network, and wherein the location-based search is based on the determined geographic location;

means for displaying at least a portion of each of one or more associated experience-sharing sessions that result from the location-based search;

wherein the displayed portion of each experience-sharing session comprises a lower-resolution real-time image feed based on real-time image data generated by a second computing device that is associated with the corresponding second user-account, and wherein the displayed portion of each associated experience-sharing session is displayed in the user-interface at a location on a map that is associated with the corresponding second user-account; and

means for, in response to a data input corresponding to the displayed portion of a first of the associated experience-sharing sessions, causing the graphic display to display a first interface for the first associated experience-sharing session, wherein the first interface comprises a higher-resolution real-time image feed based on the real-time image data generated by the associated second computing device.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a server system receiving a request to initiate a location-based search of experience-sharing sessions, wherein the request indicates (a) a first user-account from a social network and (b) a geographic location upon which to base the location-based search, wherein the geographic location is associated with the first user-account;

the server system initiating the location-based search within the social network, wherein the location-based search comprises;

using the indicated geographic location as a basis for determining search criteria; and

determining search results comprising one or more associated experience-sharing sessions that meet the search criteria, wherein each associated experience sharing session corresponds to a second user-account from the social network that has a confirmed association with the first user-account, and wherein at least one of the associated experience-sharing sessions comprises real-time point-of-view video captured by a camera on a head-mountable device (HMD) that is associated with one of the second user-accounts;

the server system sending, for each of one or more of the associated experience-sharing sessions that result from the location-based search;

(a) at least a portion of the associated experience-sharing session for display on a map interface presented on a first computing device, wherein the map interface provides for simultaneous previews of a plurality of experience-sharing sessions, and (b) a location on the map that is associated with the corresponding second user-account, wherein the portion of each experience-sharing session that is sent for display comprises a low-resolution real-time image feed based on real-time image data generated by one of the second computing devices; and

the server system receiving a request from the computing device to join a given one of the associated experience-sharing sessions and responsively sending a high-resolution real-time image feed based on the real-time image data generated by the associated second computing device for display at the first computing device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating one or more share previews, wherein each share preview is a share preview for one of the associated experience-sharing sessions;

wherein sending the search results comprises sending the one or more share previews.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

in response to the request to join a given one of the associated experience-sharing sessions, sending a full version of the associated experience-sharing session to the computing device, wherein the full version comprises the high-resolution real-time image feed.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

in response to the request to join a given one of the associated experience-sharing sessions;

determining whether or not the first user-account is authorized to join the given experience-sharing session; and

if the first user-account is authorized to join the given experience-sharing session, then sending a full-version of the associated experience-sharing session to the computing device.