Overlay generation for sharing a website

• US 9,411,856 B1
• Filed: 10/01/2012
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Stevens, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): Long, Andrea
• Application Number:
  US13/632,284
• Time in Patent Office: 1,408 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2457 with adaptation to user needs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

A system and method for generating an overlay to share information on a website among users who are associated with a social network. A sharing application includes a social network engine, a code generator, a rating engine, a filter module, a dialog engine, a website annotator, a recommendation engine and a user interface module. The social network engine registers users with the social network to share information on websites. The social network engine generates user profiles for users including topics that the users are interested in. The rating engine rates the users based at least in part on the user'"'"'s activities relating to the websites. The filter module filters users that are included in the overlay according to conditions. The dialog engine generates dialog boxes for users to communicate with each other. The user interface module generates the overlay.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

registering, with one or more processors, a first user and a second user with a social network;

receiving, with the one or more processors, user activities for the second user associated with the first website and a second website, the user activities being other users'"'"' ratings based on a bi-directional communication between another user and the second user;

generating, with the one or more processors, a website rating for the second user based on the user activities related to the first website and an overall rating for the second user based on the user activities related to the first website and the second website;

determining whether to include the second user in an overlay associated with the first website and displayed to the first user based on determining whether the website rating and the overall rating of the second user exceed a threshold value specified by the first user; and

responsive to determining that the website rating and the overall rating of the second user exceed the threshold value, generating, with the one or more processors, graphical data for displaying the overlay for the first website that includes information about the second user to the first user, the overlay including a name, the overall rating and the website rating of the second user such that the first user can interact with the second user within the overlay.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sharing an annotation created by the first user with a group on the social network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a user profile of the first user and sharing the user profile of the first user with the second user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sharing the first website with the social network, wherein the first website is shared along with any annotations for the first web site.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay includes at least one of a forum for discussing the first website, a dialog box for discussing the first website and annotations of the first website.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay includes annotations of the first website that are created by the first user and are stored as part of a user profile for the first user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay includes annotations of the first website that are shared based at least in part on a sharing level for the annotations.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the overlay includes information about all users that interacted with the first website.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one condition from the first user, the condition relating to one of demographics and a topic;

filtering other users that are associated with the first website that satisfy the condition; and

updating the overlay to include the other users that satisfy the condition.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recommending the first website based on a user profile of the first user; and

providing a number of people that are active on the first website.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating a custom skin for the first website.

12. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the system to;

register a first user and a second user with a social network;

receive user activities for the second user associated with the first website and a second website, the user activities being other users'"'"' ratings based on a bi-directional communication between another user and the second user;

generate a website rating for the second user based on the user activities related to the first website and an overall rating for the second user based on the user activities related to the first website and the second website;

determine whether to include the second user in an overlay associated with the first website and displayed to the first user based on determining whether the website rating and the overall rating of the second user exceed a threshold value specified by the first user; and

responsive to determining that the website rating and the overall rating of the second user exceed the threshold value, generate graphical data for displaying for displaying the overlay for the first website that includes information about the second user to the first user, the overlay including a name, the overall rating and the website rating of the second user such that the first user can interact with the second user within the overlay.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is further configured to share an annotation created by the first user with a group on the social network.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the system is further configured to generate a user profile of the first user and share the user profile with the second user.

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to perform steps comprising:

registering a first user and a second user with a social network;

receiving user activities for the second user associated with the first website and a second website, the user activities being other users'"'"' ratings based on a bi-directional communication between another user and the second user;

generating a website rating for the second user based on the user activities related to the first website and an overall rating for the second user based on the user activities related to the first website and the second website;

determining whether to include the second user in an overlay associated with the first website and displayed to the first user based on determining whether the website rating and the overall rating of the second user exceed a threshold value specified by the first user; and

responsive to determining that the website rating and the overall rating of the second user exceed the threshold value, generating graphical data for displaying the overlay for the first website that includes information about the second user to the first user, the overlay including a name, the overall rating and the website rating of the second user such that the first user can interact with the second user within the overlay.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to share an annotation created by the first user with a group on the social network.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to generate a user profile of the first user and share the user profile with the second user.