Enabling participation in an online community using visual machine-readable symbols

• US 8,910,059 B1
• Filed: 02/01/2013
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: George, John-Alistair, Connelly, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): Bautista, Xiomar L
• Application Number:
  US13/757,692
• Time in Patent Office: 676 Days
• Field of Search: 715/733, 715/751, 715/752, 715/753, 715/758, 715/764, 715/765, 715/835, 715/864, 715/205, 709/203, 709/204, 705/14.1, 705/14.12, 705/14.19, 705/14.23, 705/14.4, 705/14.51, 345/169
• US Class Current: 715/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/169 Annotation, e.g. comment data or footnotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06028 using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15

Abstract

A facility for coordinating an online discussion is described. The facility receives an indication that a user has captured a machine-readable symbol encoding an identifier that identifies a particular online discussion. In response, the facility incorporates into an online forum that hosts this online discussion an indication that this user captured a symbol encoding an identifier that identifies this online discussion. Having captured the machine-readable symbol, the user may interact with the content associated with the identifier encoded in the machine-readable symbol. On capturing the machine-readable symbol, an advertisement related to the content associated with the identifier encoded in the machine-readable symbol may be displayed to the user.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, if executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

capturing an image of a machine-readable symbol encoding a content item identifier, the content item identifier identifying a content item associated with a user of a plurality of users in a community, wherein the users of the community interact with one another regarding a plurality of content items available in the community;

processing the captured image to discern the content item identifier encoded into the machine-readable symbol;

determining the content item associated with the content item identifier; and

taking an action associated with the content item determined, wherein a user of the computing device interacts with another user of the community regarding the content item.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising providing an advertising message for display to the user of the computing device, the advertising message selected based upon the content item.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the advertising message is on a same topic as the content item.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the advertising message is provided for display to the user on a different computing device on which the user visits a site associated with the community.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the machine readable symbol encoding the content item identifier is a matrix barcode.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the user associated with the content item is the user who created the content item and created the machine-readable symbol encoding the content item identifier.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein taking an action comprises dialing a telephone number encoded in the machine-readable symbol or addressing an email message to an email address encoded in the machine-readable symbol.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein taking an action comprises providing an email address or a phone number encoded in the machine-readable symbol.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein taking an action comprises prompting the user of the computing system regarding whether the user wants an action associated with the content item to proceed.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein taking an action comprises downloading the content item or receiving information related to the content item.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising sending an indication to a server that the user associated with the computing device captured the machine-readable symbol, the indication including a user identifier linking the user to a user profile on the server.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising participating in a discussion corresponding to the content item, the discussion being with other users of the community.

13. The computer readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein participating in a discussion comprises providing a comment on the content item.

14. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising prompting the user of the computing device to tag the content item to a user profile for the user of the computing device.

15. A method comprising:

capturing an image of a machine-readable symbol encoding a content item identifier, the content item identifier identifying a content item associated with a user of a plurality of users in a community, wherein the users of the community interact with one another regarding a plurality of content items available in the community;

processing the captured image to discern the content item identifier encoded into the machine-readable symbol;

determining the content item associated with the content item identifier; and

taking an action associated with the content item determined, wherein a user of the computing device interacts with another user of the community regarding the content item.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing an advertising message for display to the user of the computing device, the advertising message selected based upon the content item.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the user associated with the content item is the user who created the content item and created the machine-readable symbol encoding the content item identifier.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein taking an action comprises dialing a telephone number encoded in the machine-readable symbol, addressing an email message to an email address encoded in the machine-readable symbol, providing an email address or a phone number encoded in the machine-readable symbol, downloading the content item or receiving information related to the content item.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising participating in a discussion corresponding to the content item, the discussion being with other users of the community who can provide comments on the content item.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising prompting the user of the computing device to tag the content item to a user profile for the user of the computing device.

21. A computing system, having a memory and a processor, comprising:

a component configured to capture an image of a machine-readable symbol encoding a content item identifier, the content item identifier identifying a content item associated with a user of a plurality of users in a community, wherein the users of the community interact with one another regarding a plurality of content items available in the community;

a component configured to process the captured image to discern the content item identifier encoded into the machine-readable symbol;

a component configured to determine the content item associated with the content item identifier; and

a component configured to take an action associated with the content item determined, wherein a user of the computing device interacts with another user of the community regarding the content item, wherein at least one of the components comprises computer-executable instructions stored in the memory for execution by the processor.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising a component for providing an advertising message for display to the user of the computing device, the advertising message selected based upon the content item.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the user associated with the content item is the user who created the content item and created the machine-readable symbol encoding the content item identifier.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein taking an action comprises dialing a telephone number encoded in the machine-readable symbol, addressing an email message to an email address encoded in the machine-readable symbol, providing an email address or a phone number encoded in the machine-readable symbol, downloading the content item or receiving information related to the content item.

25. The system of claim 21, further comprising a component for participating in a discussion corresponding to the content item, the discussion being with other users of the community who can comment on the content item.

26. The system of claim 21, further comprising a component for prompting the user of the computing device to tag the content item to a user profile for the user of the computing device.