Providing streams of filtered photographs for user consumption

• US 8,959,092 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2012
• Issued: 02/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Sparrow, Isaac, Payne, Anthony Howard, Smilak, Kevin Courtney, Han, Simon, Fish, Amir, Cohen, David M., Steiner, Matthew Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, HUNG D
• Application Number:
  US13/727,501
• Publication Number:
  US 20140006420A1
• Time in Patent Office: 783 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/749
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/435 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/50 of still image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/535 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles

Abstract

The present disclosure comprises systems and methods for providing a stream of only those photographs (including those inter-mixed with videos and hybrid types (animated gifs, animated photo bursts, etc.)) that may be of interest to particular users in a social network based on consideration of user social graphs and other external signals generated for the photographs based on predefined criteria to determine user interest levels. The systems and methods obtain photographs, retrieve social graphs for particular users, evaluate and filter photographs, rank them, and limit the number of photographs provided for viewing from a single source. Accordingly, only photographs that are determined to be most interesting to particular users are provided for display to them.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a stream of one or more of photographs, photographs inter-mixed with videos, and hybrid photographs with animation, for viewing by a particular user connected to other users in a social network, the method comprising:

obtaining, by one or more computing devices, one or more photographs from one or more sources associated with the particular user;

retrieving, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a social graph associated with the particular user;

determining, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, one or more relevant signals for the one or more photographs, based at least in part on one or more predefined criteria;

assigning, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, varying weights to the one or more relevant signals based at least in part on the predefined criteria including the social graph for the particular user;

ranking, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the one or more photographs by considering the varying weights assigned to the one or more photographs;

filtering, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the one or more photographs based on the ranking, to obtain a select subset of one or more photographs of special interest to the particular user;

limiting, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a number of photographs from a single source in the select subset of the one or more photographs for viewing by the particular user; and

providing for display, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, the select subset of the one or more photographs to the particular user for viewing.

2. A computer-implemented method for providing a stream of one or more of photographs, photographs inter-mixed with videos, and hybrid photographs with animation, for viewing by a particular user connected to other users in a social network, the method comprising:

obtaining, by one or more computing devices, one or more photographs from one or more sources for viewing by the particular user;

generating external signals, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, to designate the one or more photographs of interest to the particular user, based at least in part on considering criteria predefined for the particular user;

filtering, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a select subset of the one or more photographs based at least in part on considering the external signals with respect to the one or more photographs;

limiting, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a number of photographs from a single source in the select subset of the one or more photographs for viewing by the particular user; and

generating, by at least one of the one or more computing devices, a stream of the select subset of the one or more photographs for viewing by the particular user.

3. A computer-implemented method according to claim 2, further comprising:

providing for display, using the one or more computing devices, the select subset of the one or more photographs to the particular user for viewing.

4. A computer-implemented method according to claim 3, wherein the select subset of photographs are provided for viewing by the particular user in a non-regular grid pattern.

5. A computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein the criteria that is predefined includes at least one or more of 1) how recently at least one of the one or more photographs was taken, 2) how recently was at least one of the one or more photographs commented on, and 3) how recently was the photograph endorsed.

6. A computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein the criteria that is predefined determines at least one or more of 1) the particular user'"'"'s affinity to one or more of others tagged in the one or more photographs or 2) the particular user'"'"'s affinity to another user sharing the one or more photographs.

7. A computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein the criteria that is predefined determines if there are one or more faces in the one or more photographs.

8. A computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein the external signals are assigned weights ranging from high to low, which are considered to filter the select subset of one or more photographs.

9. A computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein the predefined criteria determines at least one or more of 1) the location where the photograph was taken, 2) the number of comments made on the one or more photographs, 3) the number of others who have endorsed the one or more photographs, and 4) an aesthetic level of the one or more photographs.

10. A computer-implemented method according to claim 2, wherein the external signals include an interaction history of the particular user viewing the one or more photographs from the single source.

11. A system including one or more computing devices for providing a stream of one or more of photographs, photographs inter-mixed with videos, and hybrid photographs with animation, for viewing by a particular user connected to other users in a social network, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory;

a photograph stream retrieval module stored on the memory and executable by at least one of the one or more processors, the photograph stream retrieval module configured to obtain one or more photographs from one or more sources associated with the particular user;

a social graph retrieval module stored on the memory and executable by at least one of the one or more processors, the social graph retrieval module coupled to the photograph stream retrieval module and configured to retrieve a social graph associated with the particular user;

a relevant photograph signal determination module stored on the memory and executable by at least one of the one or more processors, the relevant photograph signal determination module coupled to the social graph retrieval module and configured to determine one or more relevant signals for each of the one or more photographs from the one or more sources associated with the particular user based at least in part on one or more predefined criteria;

a weight assignment module stored on the memory and executable by at least one of the one or more processors, the weight assignment module coupled to the relevant photograph signal determination module and configured to assign varying weights to the one or more relevant signals based at least in part on the one or more predefined criteria including the social graph for the particular user;

a photograph ranking module stored on the memory and executable by at least one of the one or more processors, the photograph ranking module coupled to the weight assignment module and configured to rank the one or more photographs by considering the varying weights assigned to the one or more photographs;

a photograph filtering module stored on the memory and executable by at least one of the one or more processors, the photograph filtering module coupled to the photograph ranking module and configured to filter photographs with a low rank to generate a select subset of one or more photographs of special interest to the particular user based at least in part on the defined criteria and the social graph;

a photograph limiting module stored on the memory and executable by at least one of the one or more processors, the photograph limiting module coupled to the photograph filtering module and configured to limit a number of photographs from a single source in the select subset of the one or more photographs for viewing by the particular user; and

a user interface module stored on the memory and executable by at least one of the one or more processors, the user interface module coupled to the photograph limiting module and configured to provide for display the select subset of the one or more photographs to the particular user for viewing.

12. A system according to claim 11, wherein the system presents the select subset of photographs for viewing by the particular user in a non-regular grid pattern.

13. A system according to claim 11, wherein the predefined criteria includes at least one or more of 1) how recently at least one of the one or more photographs was taken, 2) how recently was at least one of the one or more photographs commented on, and 3) how recently was the photograph endorsed.

14. A system according to claim 11, wherein the predefined criteria determines at least one or more of 1) the particular user'"'"'s affinity to one or more of others tagged in the one or more photographs or 2) the particular user'"'"'s affinity to another user sharing the one or more photographs.

15. A system according to claim 11, wherein the predefined criteria determines if there is one or more faces in the one or more photographs.

16. A system according to claim 11, wherein the predefined criteria determines at least one of 1) the location where the photograph was taken, 2) the number of comments made on the one or more photographs, 3) the number of others who have endorsed the one or more photographs, and 4) an aesthetic level of the one or more photographs.

17. A system according to claim 11, wherein the one or more relevant signals include an interaction history of the particular user viewing the one or more photographs from the one or more sources.

18. A system according to claim 11, wherein the photograph ranking module ranks the one or more photographs from high to low.