# US 2013/0159519 A1 · Content access management in a social networking system for externally stored content

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- Number: US 2013/0159519 A1
- Document ID: US20130159519A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 13/328,987
- Filed: 2011-12-16
- Published: 2013-06-20
- Earliest claimed: 2011-12-16
- Assignees: Facebook, Inc.
- Inventors: Lincoln W. Hochberg; Vishu Gupta
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130159519A1

## CPC

- G06Q 10/40: Business processes related to social networking or social networking services
- A63F 13/35: Details of game servers
- A63F 13/792: for payment purposes, e.g. monthly subscriptions
- G06F 21/00: Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
- G06F 21/604: {Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems}
- G06F 21/6272: {by registering files or documents with a third party}
- G06Q 10/10: Office automation; Time management
- G06Q 10/48: using social graphs
- G06Q 20/14: specially adapted for billing systems
- G06Q 20/384: {using social networks}
- G06Q 20/4015: {using location information}
- G06F 2221/2111: Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- A63F: CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

A content access management system receives an access determination requested identifying an access rule and a requesting user. The access rule may be created in advance by the content owner at the content access management system. The access rule may allow access to content objects based on the requesting user's biographic information, geographic information, affiliation information, payment information, or any other user characteristic. The user information may be entered by the requesting user at a social networking system interface for purposes unrelated to the content object or content owner. The content access management system retrieves the identified access rule and retrieves requesting user information based on the access rule. An access determination is made based on the retrieved access rule and requesting user information, and is transmitted to the content owner.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method comprising:
receiving user information associated with one or more users of the social networking system;
receiving one or more content access rules from a content owner, each content access rule associated with a content object and specifying whether a user of the social networking system can access the content object based on one or more items of the received user information;
receiving an access determination request from the content owner, the access determination request associated with a request for a content object by a requesting user of the users of the social networking system, the access determination request associated with a content access rule and identifying the requesting user;
determining if the requesting user can access the requested content object by applying the content access rule to one or more items of the received user information associated with the requesting user; and
transmitting the access determination to the content owner.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the access determination request identifies the content access rule associated with the access determination request.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the access determination request identifies the requested content object, and further comprising:
identifying the content access rule associated with the content object using the identity of the requested content object.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the received user information includes one or more of: biographic information, geographic information, entity affiliation information, communication information, and social networking system interaction information.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the received user information includes information unrelated to the requested content object or the content owner.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the received user information includes payment information about a content access fee paid by the requesting user for the content object.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a content access rule from a content owner further comprises:
receiving the content access rule from the content owner;
storing the received content access rule;
generating a rule ID for the content access rule; and
transmitting the generated rule ID to the content owner.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7, further comprising:
providing a content owner interface, the content owner interface configured to allow the content owner to create a content access rule.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving a content access rule from each of a plurality of content owners;
storing the received content access rules; and
for each received content access rule:
generating a rule ID for the content access rule; and
transmitting the rule ID to the content owner associated with the content access rule.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content access rule identifies a minimum age that the requesting user must be to access the requested content object.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content access rule restricts access to the requested content object based on an identified one of: a place of employment at which the requesting user is employed, a school at which the requesting user attends, a geographic location at which the requesting user lives, a geographic location at which the requesting user previously lived, a location to which the requesting user has checked in using a mobile device with location detection functionality, and an event at which the requesting user has checked in using a mobile device with location detection functionality.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content access rule identifies at least one of a relationship status, a gender, a philosophy, a political view, and a religious view that must be associated with a profile of the requesting user for the requesting user to access the requested content object.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content access rule identifies one of a favorite movie, a favorite book, a favorite music group, a favorite television show, and a favorite game that must be associated with a profile of the requesting user for the requesting user to access the requested content object.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content access rule restricts access to the requested content object based on an identified one of: a social networking system group to which the requesting user is a member, a social networking system fan page to which the requesting user has subscribed, a social networking system user that the requesting user follows, a social networking system user to which the requesting user is connected, an access criteria that a social networking system user connected to the requesting user must satisfy, and an entity to which the requesting user is connected.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content access rule restricts access to the requested content object based on an identified one of: a social networking system object that the requesting user has shared, a social networking system object that the requesting user has endorsed, a social networking system object that the requesting user has recommended, a social networking system object that the requesting user has tagged, a social networking system event to which the requesting user has RSVP'd, a social networking system game that the requesting user has played, a social networking system game that the requesting user has completed, a social networking system advertisement with which the requesting user has interacted, a social networking system survey that the requesting user has completed, a social networking system question that the requesting user has answered, and a social networking system action that the requesting user has taken.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content access rule identifies an action that originated within a social networking system but that was completed outside the social networking system that the requesting user must have performed for the requesting user to access the requested content object.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein the identified action comprises a purchase made on a website external to the social networking system.

### Claim 18 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content access rule identifies a content access fee that the requesting user must have paid for the requesting user to access the requested content object.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the identified fee comprises one of a subscription fee to access a subset of the content owner's content or a one-time fee access the requested content object.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved content access rule identifies a combination of access criteria that must each be satisfied by the received information associated with the requesting user for the requesting user to access the requested content object.

### Claim 21 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the content owner is configured to grant the requesting user access to the requested content object responsive to a determination that the requesting user can access the requested content object.

### Claim 22 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the content owner is configured to deny the requesting user access to the requested content object responsive to a determination that the requesting user cannot access the requested content object.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22, wherein the content owner is further configured to indicate to the requesting user the reason for the determination that the requesting user cannot access the requested content object.

### Claim 24 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22, wherein the content owner is further configured to prompt the requesting user to take additional steps in order to access the requested content object.

### Claim 25

A method comprising:
receiving an access determination request from a content owner, the access determination request associated with a request for a content object by a requesting user;
retrieving a content access rule associated with the requested content object;
identifying the requesting user;
retrieving information associated with the requesting user based on the content access rule;
determining if the requesting user can access the requested content object by applying the content access rule to the retrieved user information; and
transmitting the access determination to the content owner.