# US 2014/0195605 A1 · Creating a Customized News Collection Based on Social Networking Information > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0195605 A1 - Document ID: US20140195605A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/298,221 - Filed: 2011-11-16 - Published: 2014-07-10 - Earliest claimed: 2011-11-16 - Assignees: Google Inc. - Inventors: Gopinath Neelambaran Kallayil - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140195605A1 ## CPC - G06Q 10/10: Office automation; Time management - G06Q 10/42: Determination of affinities or common interests between users - G06Q 10/48: using social graphs - H04L 67/306: User profiles - H04L 67/535: {Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34)} - H04L 67/61: taking into account QoS or priority requirements - 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 - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract A system and machine-implemented method for generating a customized news collection based on social groups, the method comprising receiving an indication of one or more social groups associated with a user, wherein each of the one or more social groups is associated with the user's account in a social networking service, determining, one or more contacts associated with each of the identified one or more social groups at a social networking service, selecting a set of news items including one or more news items associated with the one or more identified contacts and generating a news collection including a number of the one or more news items of the set of news items for provision to a user. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method executed on one or more computing devices for generating a customized news collection based on social groups, the method comprising: receiving a request from a user for a customized news collection based on one or more social groups; receiving a selection of the one or more social groups from a plurality of social groups by the user as part of the request, wherein each of the plurality of social groups is associated with the user's account in a social networking service; determining, using the one or more computing devices, one or more contacts associated with the one or more social groups selected by the user in response to receiving the selection of the one or more social groups; identifying a plurality of news items available to the user, wherein at least one of the plurality of news items comprises a news item generated at a news service or provided for consumption at a news service, wherein the news service is distinct from the social networking service; selecting a set of news items from the plurality of news items in response to receiving the selection of the one or more social groups, wherein the set of news items includes at least one news items selected based on the interaction of one or more contacts associated with at least one of the one or more social groups with the at least one news item; and generating a news collection including one or more news items of the set of news items in response to the request from the user. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes an indication of the one or more social groups. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining additional selection criteria, wherein the set of news items is further identified based one the additional selection criteria. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the selection criteria includes one or more news item characteristics including at least one of a topic, category, news source, author, time or date. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the additional criteria is specified by the user. ### Claim 6 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the additional criteria is determined based on user profile information. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more social groups are identified based on user profile information of the user. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: sorting the one or more news items of the identified set of news items according to one or more sorting criteria; and generating the news collection in response to the sorting. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein the sorting criteria include one or more priorities assigned to one or more news characteristics associated with a news item, and wherein the sorting process comprises: determining a priority assigned to one or more news characteristics associated with each of the one or more news items of the set of news items; and ranking the one or more news items of the set of news items according to the priorities. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more priorities are assigned by the user. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the priorities are assigned based on the user's interaction with news items. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, further comprising: providing the news collection for display to the user; and receiving an indication of user activity with response to at least one news item of the news collection. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising: updating at least one of the selection criteria or the sorting criteria in response to receiving the indication; and generating an updated news collection according to the updated criteria. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the one or more contacts comprises: sending a request for contacts associated with each of the one or more social groups to the social networking service associated with the social group; and receiving the one or more contacts associated with each of the one or more social groups. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more news items associated with a the one or more identified contacts comprise at least a news item that at least one of the one or more identified contacts has taken an action towards or a news article that is determined to be important based on characteristics of a news item that at least one of the one or more identified contacts has taken an action towards. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises one or more of opening the news item, reading the news item, endorsing the news item, recommending the news item, or sharing the news item. ### Claim 17 A system for generating a customized news collection based on social groups, the system comprising: one or more processors; and a non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by the processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising: receiving an indication of a request from a user for a customized news collection; receiving a selection of the one or more social groups from a plurality of social groups by the user as part of the request, wherein each of the plurality of social groups is associated with user account of the user maintained at a social networking service; selecting a set of news items according to one or more selection criteria in response to the request, the one or more selection criteria including the one or more social groups selected by the user, wherein the selection comprises: determining one or more contacts associated with the one or more social groups at a social networking service in response to receiving the selection; and identifying a set of news items including one or more news items that at least one of the one or more contacts interacted with from a plurality of news items available to the user in response to receiving the selection, wherein at least one of the one or more news items comprises a news item generated at a news service or provided for consumption at a news service, wherein the news service is distinct from the social networking service; and generating a news collection including a number of news items of the set of news items for provision to a user. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, the operations further comprising: sorting the set of news items according to one or more sorting criteria; and generating the news collection in response to the sorting. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more selection criteria further comprise one or more news item characteristics, and wherein selecting the set of news items further comprises selecting one or more news items having the one or more news item characteristics. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more news items associated with a the one or more identified contacts comprise at least a news item that at least one of the one or more identified contacts has taken an action towards or a news article that is determined to be important based on characteristics of a news item that at least one of the one or more identified contacts has taken an action towards. ### Claim 21 A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising: receiving a request from a user to view a customized news collection; determining one or more social groups based on the request, wherein each of the one or more social groups is selected by the user from a plurality of social groups with a user account of the user in a social networking service; determining one or more contacts associated with each of the selected one or more social groups at a social networking service in response to the selection; selecting a set of news items from a plurality of news items available for viewing by the user in response to the selection, the set of news items including one or more news items associated with the one or more identified contacts, wherein at least one of the one or more news items comprises a news item generated at a news service or provided for consumption at a news service and wherein the one or more news items associated with a the one or more identified contacts comprise at least a news item that at least one of the one or more identified contacts has taken an action towards or a news article that is determined to be important based on characteristics of a news item that at least one of the one or more identified contacts has taken an action towards; and generating a news collection including a number of news items of the set of news items for provision to a user in response to the request. ### Claim 22 (depends on 21) The machine-readable medium of claim 21, the operations further comprising: determining one or more additional selection criteria associated with the user; and selecting the set of news items further based on the one or more additional selection criteria. ### Claim 23 (depends on 21) The machine-readable medium of claim 21, the operations further comprising: sorting the set of news items according to one or more sorting criteria; and generating the news collection in response to the sorting.