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

• US 9,787,623 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2016
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• 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:
  US15/372,323
• Publication Number:
  US 20170085511A1
• Time in Patent Office: 307 Days
• Field of Search: 709206, 709225, 709204
• 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;

receiving, by the social networking system, a privacy setting selection of a second user of the social networking system;

determining whether the privacy setting selection permits obtaining second location information of the second user;

responsive to determining that the privacy setting selection permits obtaining the second location information of the second user, obtaining, by the social networking system, the second location information for a second device associated with the second user; and

responsive to the obtaining, sending, from the social networking system to the 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, further comprising storing the location information in a user profile associated with the first user.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor of a client device cause the processor to:

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

receive, by the social networking system, a privacy setting selection of a second user of the social networking system;

determine whether the privacy setting selection permits obtaining second location information of the user;

responsive to determining that the privacy setting selection permits obtaining the second location information of the second user, obtain, by the social networking system, the second location information for a second device associated with the second user; and

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

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the second user has a social networking connection to the first user over the social networking system.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the instructions when executed further causing the processor to store the location information in a user profile associated with the first user.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, 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.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a video associated with the location information.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes audio associated with the location information.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a photograph associated with the location information.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, 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.

17. A system comprising:

a processor for executing instructions;

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by the processor, 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 receiving, by the social networking system, a privacy setting selection of a second user of the social networking system;

instructions for determining whether the privacy setting selection permits obtaining second location information of the second user;

instructions for, responsive to determining that the privacy setting selection permits obtaining the second location information of the second user, obtaining, by the social networking system, the second location information for a second device associated with the second user; and

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

18. The system of claim 17, 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.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the second user has a social networking connection to the first user over the social networking system.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising instructions for storing the location information in a user profile associated with the first user.