Automatically providing a communication based on location information for a user of a social networking system

• US 9,565,525 B2
• Filed: 03/09/2016
• Issued: 02/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stremel, Jed, Ramakrishnan, Thyagarajapuram S., Slee, Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN GILLES, JUDE
• Application Number:
  US15/065,824
• Publication Number:
  US 20160192135A1
• Time in Patent Office: 335 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/206, 709/227, 709/228, 709/233
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 for a device associated with a first user of the social networking system;

associating the location information with the first user in a user profile associated with the first user of the social networking system;

receiving, by the social networking system, second location information for a second device associated with a second user of the social networking system;

determining that the location information and the second location information have a matching or near matching GPS identifier; and

responsive to the determining, sending, from the social networking system to a second user, a communication generated based at least in part on the location information.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second user has a social networking connection to the first user over the social networking system.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein associating the location information comprises storing the location information in the user profile associated with the first user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information is a story providing information about the first user based at least in part on the location information.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein sending the communication generated based at least in part on the location information to the second user comprises:

determining a physical address based at least in part on the location information; and

sending at least the physical address to the second user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a video associated with the location information.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes audio associated with the location information.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a photograph associated with the location information.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information provides information about a place at a geographic location represented by the location information.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

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

associating the location information with the first user in a user profile associated with the first user of the social networking system;

receiving, by the social networking system, second location information for a second device associated with a second user of the social networking system;

determining that the location information and the second location correspond to locations that are near each other; and

responsive to the determining, sending, from the social networking system to a second user, a communication generated based at least in part on the location information.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the second user has a social networking connection to the first user over the social networking system.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein associating the location information comprises storing the location information in the user profile associated with the first user.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information is a story providing information about the first user based at least in part on the location information.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein sending the communication generated based at least in part on the location information to the second user comprises:

determining a physical address based at least in part on the location information; and

sending at least the physical address to the second user.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a video associated with the location information.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes audio associated with the location information.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a photograph associated with the location information.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information provides information about a place at a geographic location represented by the location information.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a computer processor of a social networking system, the instructions comprising:

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

instructions for associating the location information with the first user in a user profile associated with the first user of the social networking system;

instructions for receiving, by the social networking system, second location information for a second device associated with a second user of the social networking system;

instructions for determining that the location information and the second location correspond to locations that are near each other; and

instructions for, responsive to the determining, sending, from the social networking system to a second user, a communication generated based at least in part on the location information.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein sending the communication generated based at least in part on the location information to the second user comprises:

determining a physical address based at least in part on the location information; and

sending at least the physical address to the second user.