Automatically locating users in proximity to a user of a social networking system

• US 8,549,075 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Issued: 10/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stremel, Jed, Ramakrishnan, Thyagarajapuram, Slee, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US13/706,650
• Publication Number:
  US 20130097247A1
• Time in Patent Office: 299 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/219, 709/203, 709/201, 709/218, 709/207, 709/210
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/384 using social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Systems and methods for automatically locating web-based social network members are provided. According to one embodiment, contact content including an associated GPS identifier and status for web-based social network members located at or near the same location automatically appears on a GPS-enabled device. A further exemplary system includes a GPS-enabled device configured to receive a GPS identifier and a status representing a location and a current state for a web-based social network member, a processing module that associates the received GPS-identifier and the received status, and a communications module that sends the associated GPS-identifier and status to a server comprising a web-based social network database. Contact content in a web-based social network database record in the web-based social network database is updated to include the associated GPS identifier and status for the web-based social network member.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a social networking system, location information of a first device associated with a first user of the social networking system, the location information representing a geographic location of the first user;

receiving a request from the first user for other users of the social networking system in proximity to the first user;

comparing the location information of the first device with location information of a second device associated with a second user of the social networking system; and

providing an indication to the first user that the second user is in proximity to the first user based at least in part on the comparison of the location information of the first device with the location information of the second device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the location information of the first device and the location information of the second device are global positioning system (GPS) identifiers.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising associating the location information of the first device with a social network user profile of the first user after receiving the location information of the first device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the location information of the second device is displayed on a social network user profile associated with the second user of the social networking system.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication provided to the first user provides access to a social network user profile of the second user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication provided to the first user includes an address for the second user based on the location information of the second device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication includes at least one of:

a video clip, an audio clip, or an image associated with the second user.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first user has a social network connection to the second user.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the social network connection between the first user and second user is a friendship type connection.

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

identifying a location name based on the location information of the second device; and

wherein the location name is included in the indication provided to the first user.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the comparing includes determining that a geographic location specified by the location information of the first device is near or at a geographic location specified by the location information of the second device.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying a location of a particular user of a social networking system;

identifying locations of a plurality of other users of the social networking system;

determining that one or more of the plurality of other users are in proximity to the particular user based on the identified location of the particular user and the identified locations of the plurality of other users; and

providing a communication to the particular user based on the determining.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the location of the first user is represented as a global positioning system (GPS) identifier.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the global positioning system (GPS) identifier is received from a client device associated with the particular user.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of other users is connected to the particular user over the social networking system.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of other users has a friendship type relationship with the particular user.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the communication includes a status for at least one of the one or more other users in proximity to the particular user, wherein the status is based on a location of the at least one other user.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the status includes an address associated with the location of the at least one other user.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the status includes a user-input identifier for the location.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the status is associated with a social networking system user profile of the at least one other user in proximity to the particular user.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 17, wherein the status describes a user action performed by the at least one other user.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein the status indicates that the user action is performed by the at least one other user at the location of the at least one other user.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the communication includes a user profile of at least one of the one or more other users in proximity to the particular user.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising updating a social network user profile of the particular user to reference the location of the particular user.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein identifying the one or more other users is based at least in part on privacy settings associated with the one or more other users.