Managing information about relationships in a social network via a social timeline

• US 8,099,433 B2
• Filed: 04/09/2010
• Issued: 01/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sittig, Aaron, Zuckerberg, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Sheree
• Application Number:
  US12/757,873
• Publication Number:
  US 20100199192A1
• Time in Patent Office: 648 Days
• Field of Search: 707/784
• US Class Current: 707/784
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2477 Temporal data queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program for generating a social timeline is provided. A plurality of data items associated with at least one relationship between users associated with a social network is received, each data item having an associated time. The data items are ordered according to the at least one relationship. A social timeline is generated according to the ordered data items.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining in a computer system a plurality of relationships among users in a social networking system, each relationship comprising a connection between at least two users of the social networking system;

for at least one relationship, receiving one or more relationship details from at least one of the users in the relationship, wherein at least one of the relationship details are received via a relationship inquiry user interface;

associating the received relationship details with one or more calendar dates associated with the one or more relationship details;

generating a social timeline comprising a chronological representation of one or more of the relationship details and their associated calendar dates, the relationship details comprising events or other data pertaining to the relationship that the users in the relationship had in common during a set of time periods; and

sending the social timeline of the relationships for display in a graphical user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of the received relationship details comprises a durational time period of the relationship and a category of the relationship.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the social timeline is displayed according to privacy settings selected by at least one of the users in at least one of the relationships in the social timeline.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the users connected in the relationships displayed on the social timeline to edit the social timeline.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating stories for the users based on the social timeline.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the social timeline further comprises photos of one or more of the users connected in at least one of the relationships in the social timeline.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the social timeline further comprises one or more events related to at least one of the relationships in the social timeline.

8. A system comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, the storage medium storing;

a social relationship editor module configured to maintain in a computer system a plurality of relationships among users in a social networking system, each relationship comprising a connection between at least two users of the social networking system;

a communications interface configured to, for at least one relationship, receive one or more relationship details from at least one of the users in the relationship, wherein at least one of the relationship details are received via a relationship inquiry user interface, and further configured to associate the received relationship details with one or more calendar dates associated with the one or more relationship details;

a social timeline module configured to generate a social timeline comprising a chronological representation of one or more of the relationship details and their associated calendar dates, the relationship details comprising events or other data pertaining to the relationship that the users in the relationship had in common during a set of time periods; and

a display configured to send the social timeline of the relationships for display in a graphical user interface.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein one or more of the relationship details comprises a durational time period of the relationship and a category of the relationship.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the display is configured to display the social timeline according to privacy settings selected by at least one of the users in at least one of the relationships in the social timeline.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the social timeline module is further configured to enable the users connected in the relationships displayed on the social timeline to edit the social timeline.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the social timeline module is further configured to generate stories for the users based on the social timeline.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the social timeline further comprises photos of one or more of the users connected in at least one of the relationships in the social timeline.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the social timeline further comprises one or more events related to at least one of the relationships in the social timeline.

15. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium containing computer program code for:

maintaining in a computer system a plurality of relationships among users in a social networking system, each relationship comprising a connection between at least two users of the social networking system;

for at least one relationship, receiving one or more relationship details from at least one of the users in the relationship, wherein at least one of the relationship details are received via a relationship inquiry user interface;

associating the received relationship details with one or more calendar dates associated with the one or more relationship details;

generating a social timeline comprising a chronological representation of one or more of the relationship details and their associated calendar dates, the relationship details comprising events or other data pertaining to the relationship that the users in the relationship had in common during a set of time periods; and

sending the social timeline of the relationships for display in a graphical user interface.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein one or more of the relationship details comprises a durational time period of the relationship and a category of the relationship.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the code for displaying is configured to display the social timeline according to privacy settings selected by at least one of the users in at least one of the relationships in the social timeline.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, the computer-readable storage medium further containing computer program code for:

enabling the users connected in the relationships displayed on the social timeline to edit the social timeline.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, the computer-readable storage medium further containing computer program code for:

generating stories for the users based on the social timeline.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the social timeline further comprises photos of one or more of the users connected in at least one of the relationships in the social timeline.

21. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the social timeline further comprises one or more events related to at least one of the relationships in the social timeline.