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

• US 9,740,372 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2016
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• 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 C., Connelly, Adam
• Primary Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US15/340,884
• Publication Number:
  US 20170052660A1
• Time in Patent Office: 294 Days
• 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.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

generating a machine-readable symbol that encodes an identifier that uniquely identifies an online discussion;

configuring a user interface to present information describing the online discussion;

receiving one or more user interactions, each user interaction received from a client device responsive to the client device capturing the machine-readable symbol;

displaying information describing the one or more user interactions on the user interface configured to present information describing the online discussion.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the presented information on the user interface comprises one or more of:

a list of users that have captured the generated machine-readable symbol;

a total number of times that the generated machine-readable symbol has been captured;

previously submitted comments to the online discussion;

or

a date on which the online discussion was created.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the presented information on the user interface comprises previously submitted comments to the online discussion by a creator of the online discussion and an identification of the creator of the online discussion.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the received one or more user interactions comprise at least one of:

receiving additional comments submitted to the online discussion by a user that accesses the user interface;

or

altering or annotating comments that were previously submitted to the online discussion.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a user provided input to upload new content to the online discussion, and wherein displaying information describing the one or more user interactions occurs in response to receiving the user provided input.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the user interface is further configured with an editable field for receiving the one or more user interactions.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the online discussion is one of:

an email address discussion;

a generic text discussion;

or

telephone number discussion.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the machine-readable symbol is a two dimensional bar code, wherein the two dimensional bar code is for capturing by an application executing on a client device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending a capture program for installation on a client device, the capture program configured to perform an action associated with the online discussion in response to the client device capturing the machine-readable symbol.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending a message to a user based on a set of symbols that the user has captured.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the steps including:

generating a machine-readable symbol that encodes an identifier that uniquely identifies an online discussion;

configuring a user interface to present information describing the online discussion;

receiving one or more user interactions, each user interaction received from a client device responsive to the client device capturing the machine-readable symbol;

displaying information describing the one or more user interactions on the user interface configured to present information describing the online discussion.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the presented information on the user interface comprises one or more of:

a list of users that have captured the generated machine-readable symbol;

a total number of times that the generated machine-readable symbol has been captured;

previously submitted comments to the online discussion;

or

a date on which the online discussion was created.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the presented information on the user interface comprises previously submitted comments to the online discussion by a creator of the online discussion and an identification of the creator of the online discussion.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the received one or more user interactions comprise at least one of:

receiving additional comments submitted to the online discussion by a user that accesses the user interface;

or

altering or annotating comments that were previously submitted to the online discussion.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the steps including:

receiving a user provided input to upload new content to the online discussion, and wherein displaying information describing the one or more user interactions occurs in response to receiving the user provided input.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the user interface is further configured with an editable field for receiving the one or more user interactions.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the online discussion is one of:

an email address discussion;

a generic text discussion;

or

telephone number discussion.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the machine-readable symbol is a two dimensional bar code, wherein the two dimensional bar code is for capturing by an application executing on a client device.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the steps including:

sending a capture program for installation on a client device, the capture program configured to perform an action associated with the online discussion in response to the client device capturing the machine-readable symbol.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform the steps including:

sending a message to a user based on a set of symbols that the user has captured.