Managing copyrights of content for sharing on a social networking system

• US 9,978,106 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2012
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lessin, Samuel, Richter, Michael, Sittig, Aaron
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Steven S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fenstermacher, Jason B
• Application Number:
  US13/455,056
• Publication Number:
  US 20130282504A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,219 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services

Abstract

A social graph may be modeled as a collection of claims. Each claim is associated with an author, an audience, and an assertion about a fact. Probabilistic information may be collected from various sources for a claim, enabling a social networking system to evaluate a truthfulness of the assertion made in the claim. User-declared profile information may be evaluated as claims. A user, entity, or application may make claims about any assertions made in the social networking system. Reputation scores may be determined for users based on evaluations of their historical assertions. Claims may be evaluated for truthfulness using a probabilistic prediction model using heuristics analysis, regression analysis, and machine learning methods. A claims-based profile of users may be provided to viewers based on the contexts in which the claims were made. Viewers may view claims made about users, such as the users'"'"' biographical information, contact information, expertise, and interests.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing a first content item in a binary storage of an online social networking system, the first content item stored among a plurality of content items in the binary storage;

generating a first object that represents the first content item;

storing the first object among a plurality of objects in a graph database of the online social networking system;

receiving a first claim from an authoring agent of the online social networking system, where the first claim;

comprises a first assertion made by the authoring agent referencing the stored first object representing the first content item; and

specifies a first audience for the first claim comprising one or more users of the online social networking system;

storing the first claim in the graph database as a connection to the stored first object representing the first content item;

receiving, from an owner agent associated with the first content item, a copyright setting for the first content item of the plurality of content items, the copyright setting specifying whether other users of the online social networking system may include a reference to the stored first object in a new claim;

sending, from the online social networking system to a viewing agent who is in the first audience, a description of the first assertion of the first claim by the authoring agent, where the description references the stored first object representing the first content item and is sent via a first user interface of the online social networking system;

receiving a request from the viewing agent to make a second claim that;

comprises a second assertion referencing the stored first object representing the first content item; and

specifies a second audience for the second claim comprising one or more users of the online social networking system;

determining, by a processor, based on the copyright setting whether the viewing agent is authorized to include a reference to the stored first object representing the first content item into the second claim;

responsive to determining that the viewing agent is authorized to include a reference to the stored first object representing the first content item into the second claim, storing the second claim in the graph database as a connection to the stored first object representing the first content item; and

sending, from the social networking system to one or more users in the second audience, a description of the second assertion of the second claim by the viewing agent, where the description references the first content item and is sent via a second user interface of the online social networking system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the copyright setting for the first content item is determined by an owner agent by receiving a selection of a flag for the copyright setting for the first content item by the owner agent through an interface on the social networking system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the copyright setting for the first content item further comprises a user-payload-copyright setting and wherein the viewing agent is included in the audience of the claim.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the copyright setting for the first content item further comprises an application-copyright setting and wherein the viewing agent further comprises an application authorized to copy the claim on behalf of a member of the audience of the claim.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication that a viewing agent of the social networking system is viewing the claim, further comprising receiving an indication that the viewing agent is viewing the claim on the social networking system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication that a viewing agent of the social networking system is viewing the claim, further comprising receiving an indication that the viewing agent is accessing the claim through an application programming interface connected with the social networking system.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a link for display to the viewing agent in the social networking system, where selection of the link generates a command to the social networking system to copy a reference to the claim.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an application programming interface (API) to the viewing agent in the social networking system for copying a reference to the claim.