Sending communications to contacts on a social networking service

• US 9,521,105 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2013
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Potter, Tyler J., Jackson, Dean K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Oanh
• Application Number:
  US13/792,493
• Publication Number:
  US 20130254309A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,373 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-204, 709/206, 709/217, 709/219, 715751-753
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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

Abstract

Sending communications to contacts on a social networking service includes receiving a target geographical location of a computing device, identifying a vicinity based on the target geographical location, using the vicinity to identify a set of contacts associated with an account on a social networking service, where the set of contacts are used to produce a contact list that excludes one or more contacts that are not associated with locations within the vicinity, and sending a communication to members of the contact list, where the communication relates to the target geographical location.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a target geographical location of a computing device;

parsing a message for one or more keywords associated with the target geographical location of the computing device;

comparing one or more keywords of the message to subjects associated with a plurality of predefined rules;

based on the comparison, selecting one of the predefined rules that is associated with a subject corresponding to the one or more keywords;

identifying boundaries of a vicinity based on the target geographical location, the boundaries of the vicinity being defined by the selected one of the predefined rules;

creating a group comprising names of one or more locations that are within the boundaries of the vicinity;

using the group to identify a set of contacts from the contacts in the social network of the user, the set of contacts excluding one or more contacts in the social network of the user that are not associated with locations within the group;

creating a contact list, the contact list comprising contacts, from the set of contacts, that have commented on topics that relate to the message; and

sending the message to members of the contact list, the message relating to the target geographical location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of contacts comprises:

searching, among contacts in the social network of the user, for words associated with locations within the group; and

selecting contacts who have the words associated with locations within the group.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the target geographical location comprises retrieving the target geographical location from an index that is accessible through the social networking service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the target geographical location comprises:

obtaining a current location of the computing device from a geo-location service; and

correlating the current location to the target geographical location.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising refining membership of the contact list based, at least in part, on a social graph of the user associated with the computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the target geographical location comprises consulting a database comprising check-in information, the check-in information comprising a current location of the computing device, the current location being the target geographical location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of contacts comprise members of the social networking service who are known to be within the boundaries of the vicinity of the target geographical location.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the message relates to an event at the target geographical location.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a message directed to contacts in a social networking service, the contacts being within a social network of a user of a computing device;

obtaining a target location of the computing device by parsing the message for one or more keywords associated with the target location of the computing device, the target location being defined by the one or more keywords associated with the target location;

creating a group comprising location names of one or more locations that are within defined boundaries of a vicinity of the target location, the defining comprising;

comparing the one or more keywords of the message to subjects associated with a plurality of predefined rules; and

selecting, based on the comparison, one of the predefined rules that is associated with a subject corresponding to the one or more keywords;

producing a contact list that includes one or more of the contacts that are affiliated with at least one of the location names within the group; and

sending the message to the contact list, the message relating to the target location.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein obtaining the target location comprises retrieving the target location from a profile that is accessible through the social networking service.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein obtaining the target location comprises:

obtaining a current location of the computing device using a geo-location service; and

correlating the current location to the target location.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the message relates to an event at the target location.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the contact list comprises members of the social networking service who are known to be within the boundaries of the vicinity of the target location.

14. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that are executable to perform operations comprising:

receiving a target geographical location of a computing device;

parsing a message for one or more keywords associated with the target geographical location of the computing device;

comparing one or more keywords of the message to subjects associated with a plurality of predefined rules;

based on the comparison, selecting one of the predefined rules that is associated with a subject corresponding to the one or more keywords;

identifying boundaries of a vicinity based on the target geographical location, the boundaries of the vicinity being defined by the selected one of the predefined rules;

creating a group comprising names of one or more locations that are within the boundaries of the vicinity;

using the group to identify a set of contacts from the contacts in the social network of the user, the set of contacts excluding one or more contacts in the social network of the user that are not associated with locations within the group;

creating a contact list, the contact list comprising contacts, from the set of contacts, that have commented on topics that relate to the message; and

sending the message to members of the contact list, the message relating to the target geographical location.

15. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that are executable to perform operations comprising:

receiving a message directed to contacts in a social networking service, the contacts being within a social network of a user of a computing device;

obtaining a target location of the computing device by parsing the message for one or more keywords associated with the target location of the computing device, the target location being defined by the one or more keywords associated with the target location;

creating a group comprising location names of one or more locations that are within defined boundaries of a vicinity of the target location, the defining comprising;

comparing the one or more keywords of the message to subjects associated with a plurality of predefined rules; and

selecting, based on the comparison, one of the predefined rules that is associated with a subject corresponding to the one or more keywords;

producing a contact list that includes one or more of the contacts that are affiliated with at least one of the location names within the group; and

sending the message to the contact list, the message relating to the target location.

16. A system comprising:

one or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that are executable; and

one or more processing devices to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising;

receiving a target geographical location of a computing device;

parsing a message for one or more keywords associated with the target geographical location of the computing device;

comparing one or more keywords of the message to subjects associated with a plurality of predefined rules;

based on the comparison, selecting one of the predefined rules that is associated with a subject corresponding to the one or more keywords;

identifying boundaries of a vicinity based on the target geographical location, the boundaries of the vicinity being defined by the selected one of the predefined rules;

creating a group comprising names of one or more locations that are within the boundaries of the vicinity;

using the group to identify a set of contacts from the contacts in the social network of the user, the set of contacts excluding one or more contacts in the social network of the user that are not associated with locations within the group;

creating a contact list, the contact list comprising contacts, from the set of contacts, that have commented on topics that relate to the message; and

sending the message to members of the contact list, the message relating to the target geographical location.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the operations comprise refining membership of the contact list based, at least in part, on a social graph of the user associated with the computing device.

18. A system comprising:

one or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that are executable; and

one or more processing devices to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising;

receiving a message directed to contacts in a social networking service, the contacts being within a social network of a user of a computing device;

obtaining a target location of the computing device by parsing the message for one or more keywords associated with the target location of the computing device, the target location being defined by the one or more keywords associated with the target location;

creating a group comprising location names of one or more locations that are within defined boundaries of a vicinity of the target location, the defining comprising;

comparing the one or more keywords of the message to subjects associated with a plurality of predefined rules; and

selecting, based on the comparison, one of the predefined rules that is associated with a subject corresponding to the one or more keywords;

producing a contact list that includes one or more of the contacts that are affiliated with at least one of the location names within the group; and

sending the message to the contact list, the message relating to the target location.