Multimedia aggregation in an online social network

• US 8,572,167 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2011
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tiu, William K. Jr., Roberto, Jeffrey J.
• Primary Examiner(s): WON, MICHAEL YOUNG
• Application Number:
  US13/338,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20120096532A1
• Time in Patent Office: 672 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/212, 709/217, 709/226, 709/225, 709/229, 709/231, 709/232, 709/246, 725/25, 725/86, 725/105, 725/143
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications

Abstract

Multimedia content is featured on user pages of an online social network using embed codes that are generated using a configuration file associated with the source ID for the multimedia content and a content ID for the multimedia content. The configuration file, the source ID and the content ID are stored locally by the online social network so that any changes to the embed codes can be made by changing the configuration file associated with the source and regenerating the embed codes. By managing multimedia content in this manner, greater control can be exercised by the online social network over the multimedia content that are featured on its user pages.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

retrieving, using one or more processors associated with one or more computer servers, identifying information associated with a plurality of multimedia content items aggregated by a plurality of users of the online social network, the identifying information comprising a source ID associated with a third-party source of each multimedia content item, wherein each of the plurality of multimedia content items are associated with a user identifier;

selecting at least one of the plurality of multimedia content items based on a user identifier;

generating, using the one or more processors, an embed code for the at least one of the plurality of multimedia content items using the source ID, wherein the source ID identifies a configuration file that specifies the format of the embed code and has a variable field into which a content ID is inserted; and

generating, using the one or more processors, using the embed code, a web page comprising the at least one of the plurality of multimedia content items, the web page being associated with a first user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying information associated with at least one of the plurality of multimedia content items comprises the source ID, a content ID associated with the multimedia content item, a URL, or any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the embed code is a HTML code that specifies a URL of the third-party source associated with the source ID and the content ID.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, for each of the at least one of the plurality of multimedia content items, the selecting is based on a popularity calculation for multimedia content item with respect to the plurality of users of the online social network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the popularity calculation is based on users of the online social network who are related to the first user by one degree of separation.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the popularity calculation is based on users of the online social network users of the online social network who are related to the first user by at least two degrees of separation.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the popularity calculation is based viewership, adoption, or any combination thereof.

8. A computer server associated with a social network, comprising:

a database comprising information associated with a plurality of users of the online social network, the information associated with each user of the plurality of users including user profile information, a URL identifying a profile page that includes the user profile information, and identifying information associated with one or more third-party multimedia content items;

one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media encoded with instructions; and

one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to;

retrieve identifying information associated with a third-party multimedia content item, the identifying information being associated with a user, wherein the identifying information associated with the multimedia content item comprises a source ID associated with the third-party source, a content ID associated with the multimedia content item, a URL, or any combination thereof, and wherein the source ID identifies a configuration file that specifies the format of the embed code and has a variable field into which a content ID is inserted;

accessing an HTML embed code for the third-party multimedia content item;

generate a profile page for the user comprising user profile information and the HTML embed code, and

transmit information to display the profile page.

9. The computer server of claim 8, wherein accessing the HTML embed code comprises:

determining that the third-party multimedia content item is not flagged for an update; and

retrieving a cached HTML embed code for the third-party multimedia content item.

10. The computer server of claim 8, wherein accessing the HTML embed code comprises:

determining that the third-party multimedia content item is flagged for an update; and

generating the HTML embed code for the third-party multimedia content item using the identifying information.

11. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to;

retrieve identifying information associated with a plurality of multimedia content items aggregated by a plurality of users of the online social network, the identifying information comprising a source ID associated with a third-party source of each multimedia content item, wherein each of the plurality of multimedia content items are associated with a user identifier;

select at least one of the plurality of multimedia content items based on a user identifier;

generate an embed code for the at least one of the plurality of multimedia content items using the source ID, wherein the source ID identifies a configuration file that specifies the format of the embed code and has a variable field into which a content ID is inserted; and

generate, using the embed code, a web page comprising the at least one of the plurality of multimedia content items, the web page being associated with a first user.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the identifying information associated with at least one of the plurality of multimedia content items comprises the source ID, a content ID associated with the multimedia content item, a URL, or any combination thereof.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the embed code is a HTML code that specifies a URL of the third-party source associated with the source ID and the content ID.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein, for each of the at least one of the plurality of multimedia content items, the selecting is based on a popularity calculation for multimedia content item with respect to the plurality of users of the online social network.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the popularity calculation is based on users of the online social network who are related to the first user by one degree of separation.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the popularity calculation is based on users of the online social network users of the online social network who are related to the first user by at least two degrees of separation.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the popularity calculation is based viewership, adoption, or any combination thereof.