# US 8,572,174 B2 · Personalizing a web page outside of a social networking system with content from the social networking system selected based on global information

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- Number: US 8,572,174 B2
- Document ID: US8572174B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 13/551,508
- Filed: 2012-07-17
- Published: 2012-11-08
- Granted: 2013-10-29
- Earliest claimed: 2010-04-21
- Assignees: Facebook, Inc.
- Applicants: Mark E. Zuckerberg; Ray C. He; Spencer Ahrens; Yofay Kari Lee; Chaitanya Mishra; Austin Daniel Haugen; Xin Liu; Michael Steven Vernal
- Inventors: Mark E. Zuckerberg; Ray C. He; Spencer Ahrens; Yofay Kari Lee; Chaitanya Mishra; Austin Daniel Haugen; Xin Liu; Michael Steven Vernal
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8572174B2

## CPC

- G06Q 30/02: Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
- G06F 16/9535: Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
- G06F 16/972: {Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation}
- H04L 67/02: based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
- H04L 67/306: User profiles
- H04L 67/53: using third party service providers
- 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
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)

## Abstract

A user device requests a web page from a web server of a third-party website, which is separate from a social networking system. The web server from the third-party website sends a markup language document for the requested web page to the user device which includes an instruction for a browser application running on the user device to incorporate information obtained from the social networking system within the web page. Based on the instruction in the received markup language document, the user device requests personalized content from the social networking system, which generates the requested personalized content based on social information about the user. The user device then renders the web page with the personalized content contained in a frame and displays the rendered web page and the frame to the user.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method comprising:
requesting a web page from a web server, wherein the web page is within a domain of a third-party website that is different from a domain of a social networking system;
receiving at a user device a markup language document for the requested web page;
requesting information from the social networking system for presentation within the requested web page, wherein requesting information from the social networking system comprises sending an instruction to the social networking system to select the requested information based on one or more actions stored by the social networking system;
providing to the social networking system an indication of whether the user has an existing session with the social networking system by allowing the social networking system to access a cookie stored on the user device;
receiving the requested information from the social networking system, wherein the received requested information was determined by the social networking system based on actions stored by the social networking system and describing interactions taken by all users of the social networking system responsive to the indication provided to the social networking system specifying the user does not have an existing session with the social networking system;
rendering the web page and the content based on the obtained information within the web page; and
displaying the rendered web page.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein requesting information from the social networking system comprises providing to the social networking system one or more parameters for selecting the requested information, wherein the requested information received from the social networking system is selected based on the parameters.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more parameters include at least a URL, domain, or network address for the requested information.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more parameters include at least a parameter selected from a group consisting of: keywords, interests, demographic information, location information, geo-location information, an instruction to apply affinity criteria, and an instruction to apply a decay factor.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the received requested information includes a prompt for the user to establish a session with the social networking system.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5, further comprising:
responsive to receiving an interaction with the prompt for the user to establish the session with the social networking system, providing to the social networking system an indication the user has established the session with the social networking system;
receiving modified information from the social networking system, wherein the received modified information was determined by the social networking system based on social information associated with the user;
rendering the web page including the received modified information; and
displaying the rendered web page including the received modified information.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein the received modified information comprises a set of content items that relate to (1) one or more actions performed by one or more other users with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system, and (2) at least one specified URL or domain.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the requested information received from the social networking system comprises a set of content items that relate to actions performed by all users of the social networking system and to one or more domains or uniform resource locators (URLs).

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8, wherein the set of content items is determined based on one or more of: a number of content items where users of the social networking system express an interest in a URL, a number of content items where users of the social networking system post a comment to the social networking system discussing the URL, a number of content items where users of the social networking system post the URL, and a number of content items where users of the social networking system attend an event associated with the URL.

### Claim 10

A method comprising:
receiving at a server of a social networking system a request for information based on an instruction in a markup language document, wherein the request for information is responsive to a request for a web page of a third-party website that is within a domain of a third-party website that is different from a domain of the social networking system, and the request indicates to select the requested information based on one or more actions stored by the social networking system;
identifying a user associated with the request by accessing a cookie stored on a user device from which the request was received;
determining whether the user has an existing session with the social networking system;
responsive to determining the user does not have an existing session with the social networking system, determining the requested information based on social information associated with the user based on actions stored by the social networking system and describing interactions taken by all users of the social networking;
sending the requested information as content displayed within the web page;
responsive to receiving a request from the user to establish a session with the social networking system, determining modified information based on social information associated with the user based on social information associated with the user, the modified information comprising a set of content items that relate to (a) one or more actions performed by one or more other users with whom the user has established a connection in the social networking system and (2) at least one specified URL or domain; and
sending the modified information for display as content within the web page in place of the requested information.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, wherein the request for information comprises one or more parameters for selecting the requested information, and wherein the determined requested information is selected based on the parameters.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more parameters include at least a URL, domain, or network address for the requested information.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more parameters include at least a parameter selected from a group consisting of: keywords, interests, demographic information, location information, geo-location information, an instruction to apply affinity criteria, and an instruction to apply a decay factor.

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, wherein the requested information includes a prompt for the user to establish a session with the social networking system.

### Claim 15 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10, wherein the requested information comprises a set of content items that relate to actions performed by all users of the social networking system and to one or more domains or uniform resource locators (URLs).

### Claim 16

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having encoded thereon:
content from a third-party website, the third party web site different from a domain of a social networking system;
instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
request information from the social networking system by sending an instruction to the social networking system to select the requested information based on one or more actions stored by the social networking system;
provide to the social networking system an indication of whether a user associated with a user device including the processor has an existing session with the social networking system by allowing the social networking system to access a cookie stored on the user device including the processor;
receive the requested information from the social networking system, wherein the received requested information was determined by the social networking system based on actions stored by the social networking system and describing interactions taken by all users of the social networking system responsive to the indication provided to the social networking system specifying the user does not have an existing session with the social networking system;
render a web page including the content from the domain of a third-party website that is different from a domain of the social networking system and also including content rendered from the requested information received from the social networking system, and
display the rendered web page on the user device.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the user device to request information from the social networking system by providing to the social networking system one or more parameters for selecting the requested information, wherein the requested information received from the social networking system is selected based on the parameters.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the one or more parameters include at least a URL, domain, or network address for the requested information.

### Claim 19 (depends on 17)

The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the one or more parameters include at least a parameter selected from a group consisting of: keywords, interests, demographic information, location information, geo-location information, an instruction to apply affinity criteria, and an instruction to apply a decay factor.

### Claim 20 (depends on 16)

The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the received requested information includes a prompt for the user to establish a session with the social networking system.

### Claim 21 (depends on 20)

The computer program product of claim 20, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the user device to:
provide an indication the user has established the session with the social networking system responsive to receiving an interaction with the prompt for the user to establish the session with the social networking system;
receive modified information from the social networking system, wherein the received modified information was determined by the social networking system based on social information associated with the user;
render the web page including content based on the received modified information within the web page; and
display the rendered web page including the content based on the received modified information.