Client-side modification of search results based on social network data

• US 9,342,605 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2011
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kelly, Matthew William, Richter, Michael Judd, Haugen, Austin, Flores, E. Nair
• Primary Examiner(s): Hwa, Shyue Jiunn
• Application Number:
  US13/159,247
• Publication Number:
  US 20120317109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,800 Days
• Field of Search: 707/734
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering

Abstract

In particular embodiments, a method comprising, accessing, at a client device, a set of search results in a structured document loaded into a client application, wherein the search results correspond to a search query of a first user, accessing a data store of social graph information to determine if one or more second users having an association with the first user have accessed any of the search results, and visually distinguishing, at the client device, in a user interface of the client application each of the one or more search results that have been accessed by one or more second users.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing, at a client device, search results in one or more structured documents loaded into a client application, wherein the search results identify one or more network resources that-correspond to a search query of a first user of an online social network;

accessing a data store of social-graph information accessed from the online social network to determine one or more second users of the online social network having an association with the first user of the online social network that have interacted with any of the identified network resources within a particular period of time;

accessing one or more past-search results associated with one or more previous searches submitted by one or more of the second users of the online social network; and

displaying, at the client device, the one or more network resources that correspond to a search query of a first user of the online social network, the displaying of the network resources comprising visually distinguishing, in a user interface of the client application, one or more of the displayed network resources that the second users of the online social network have interacted with within the particular period of time,

wherein the visually distinguishing the identified network resources comprises displaying an overlay panel next to at least one of the identified network resources that indicates that the identified network resource of the search results has been accessed by the second users of the online social network, and

wherein the overlay panel displays profile pictures of the second users accessed from the online social network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified-network resources that the second users have interacted with within the particular period of time are further visually distinguished by one or more of color, size, highlighting, font, or other visual indication.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking the search results according to a popularity ranking based at least in part on one or more of the identified network resources that the second users have interacted with within the particular period of time.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, for one or more of the identified network resources that the second users have interacted with within the particular period of time, the popularity ranking is based at least in part on a number of times one or more edges have been generated, based at least in part on the interactions, between nodes respectively associated with the second users and nodes respectively associated with the identified network resources.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the edge comprises one or more of a number of times viewed, a number of times liked, or a number of times the search results were posted to a social-networking system comprising the data store of social-graph information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the data store of social graph information comprises:

sending, from the client device to a social-networking system comprising the data store of social-graph information;

an identification associated with the first user;

an indication of the particular period of time; and

one or more Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) respectively associated with one or more of the identified network resources; and

receiving, at the client device, the social-graph information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

one or more nodes are respectively associated with the second users;

one or more nodes are respectively associated with the first user; and

the second users having an association with the first user comprise the second users whose respective nodes have a particular degree of separation between the nodes associated with the first user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay panel displays social network data elements from a user profile of each of the one or more second users.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the past-search results comprise one or more past-search network resources determined based on a second-user search query associated with one or more of the second users.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining one or more network resources from the past-search network resources that are relevant to the search query of the first user of the online social network; and

displaying, at the client device, one or more of the network resources from the past-search network resources in addition to the one or more network resources that correspond to the search query of the first user.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising visually distinguishing, in the user interface of the client application, the one or more of the network resources from the past-search network resources from the one or more of the network resources that the second users of the online social network have interacted with within the particular period of time.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing one or more network-resource recommendations submitted by one or more of the second users of the online social network;

determining one or more network resources associated with the network-resource recommendations that are relevant to the search query of the first user of the online social network; and

displaying, at the client device, one or more of the network resources from the network-resource recommendations in addition to the one or more network resources that correspond to the search query of the first user.

13. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors being operable when executing the instructions to;

access search results in one or more structured documents loaded into a client application, wherein the search results identify one or more network resources that correspond to a search query of a first user of an online social network;

access a data store of social-graph information accessed from the online social network to determine one or more second users of the online social network having an association with the first user of the online social network that have interacted with any of the identified network resources within a particular period of time;

access one or more past-search results associated with one or more previous searches submitted by one or more of the second users of the online social network; and

display the one or more network resources that correspond to a search query of a first user of the online social network, the display of the network resources comprising visually distinguishing, in a user interface of the client application, one or more of the displayed network resources that the second users of the online social network have interacted with within the particular period of time,

wherein the visually distinguishing of the identified network resources comprises displaying an overlay panel next to at least one of the identified network resources that indicates that the identified network resource of the search results has been accessed by the second users of the online social network, and

wherein the overlay panel displays profile pictures of the second users accessed from the online social network.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the identified network resources that the second users have interacted with within the particular period of time are further visually distinguished by one or more of color, size, highlighting, font, or other visual indication.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the processors are further operable when executing the instructions to rank the search results according to a popularity ranking based at least in part on one or more of the identified network resources that the second users have interacted with within the particular period of time.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein for one or more of the identified network resources that the second users have interacted with within the particular period of time, the popularity ranking is based at least in part on a number of times one or more edges have been generated, based at least in part on the interactions, between nodes respectively associated with the second users and nodes respectively associated with the identified network resources.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the edge comprises one or more of a number of times viewed, a number of times liked, or a number of times the search results posted to a social-networking system comprising the data store of social-graph information.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein accessing the data store of social graph information comprises:

sending, from a client device to a social-networking system comprising the data store of social-graph information;

an identification associated with the first user;

an indication of the particular period of time; and

one or more Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) respectively associated with one or more of the identified network resources; and

receiving, at the client device, the social-graph information.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein:

one or more nodes are respectively associated with the second users;

one or more nodes are respectively associated with the first user; and

the second users having an association with the first user comprise the second users whose respective nodes have a particular degree of separation between the nodes associated with the first user.

20. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

access search results in one or more structured documents loaded into a client application, wherein the search results identify one or more network resources that correspond to a search query of a first user of an online social network;

access a data store of social-graph information accessed from the online social network to determine one or more second users of the online social network having an association with the first user that have interacted with any of the identified network resources within a particular period of time;

access one or more past-search results associated with one or more previous searches submitted by one or more of the second users of the online social network; and

display the one or more network resources that correspond to a search query of a first user of the online social network, the display of the network resources comprising visually distinguishing, in a user interface of the client application, one or more of the displayed network resources that the second users of the online social network have interacted with within the particular period of time,

wherein the visually distinguishing of the identified network resources comprises displaying an overlay panel next to at least one of the identified network resources that indicates that the identified network resource of the search results has been accessed by the second users of the online social network, and

wherein the overlay panel displays profile pictures of the second users accessed from the online social network.