US 9,319,472 B2 · Facilitating generation of user content for aggregated story units

Abstract

A social networking system aggregates two or more stories having at least one common characteristic to create an aggregated story unit. Each story describes an action performed on an object over the social networking system or external to the social networking system. The aggregated story unit includes one or more input elements allowing a viewing user to interact with the aggregate story unit as a whole or with individual stories in the aggregated story unit. The input elements included in the aggregated story unit may be based on the types of the actions or of the objects described by stories in the aggregated story unit and on one or more input policies.

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Drawings

Claims19

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, from a viewing user of a social networking system, a request for stories describing one or more actions of one or more users of the social networking system;
identifying one or more users of the social networking system connected to the viewing user;
obtaining interaction data describing one or more actions performed by the one or more users connected to the viewing user on one or more objects associated with the social networking system;
generating an aggregated story unit from the interaction data, the aggregated story unit including two or more content items associated with a common characteristic and identifying a plurality of actions performed by the one or more users connected to the viewing user;
determining, based on one more input selection policies, whether to include in the aggregated story unit:
(1) an input element associated with a collection of all of the content items included in the aggregated story unit, or
(2) an input element associated with each individual content item included in the aggregated story unit,
wherein an input selection policy is based at least in part on prior user interactions with other aggregated story units including other content items associated with the same common characteristic as the content items included in the aggregated story unit;
and
providing, for display to the viewing user, the aggregated story unit with one or more input elements based on the determining.

7 more elements

A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request for one or more stories from a viewing user of the social networking system;
identifying a plurality of actions performed by one or more users of the social networking system connected to the viewing user;
selecting a first action from the plurality of actions and a second action from the plurality of actions, wherein the first action and the second action share a common characteristic;
generating an aggregated story unit describing the selected first action and the selected second action;
determining, based on one more input selection policies, whether to include in the aggregated story unit:
(1) an input element associated with a collection of all of content items included in the aggregated story unit, or
(2) an input element associated with each individual content item included in the aggregated story unit,
wherein the input element included in the aggregated story unit is configured to receive content from the viewing user;
presenting the aggregated story unit to the viewing user;
receiving an interaction with the aggregated story unit by the viewing user via the input element;
determining, based on at least one input selection policy, a manner in which the received interaction with the aggregated story unit is to be associated with the first action and the second action, the determined manner indicating whether to associate the received interaction with either both of the first and second actions or the first action and not the second action;
and
associating the received interaction according to the determined manner.

10 more elements

A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a request for stories describing actions of users of a social networking system from a viewing user;
identifying one or more users of the social networking system connected to the viewing user based at least in part on one or more edges maintained by the social networking system;
obtaining interaction data describing one or more actions performed by the one or more users connected to the viewing user on one or more objects associated with the social networking system;
generating a plurality of stories from the interaction data, each story identifying a user connected to the viewing user and an action performed by the user connected to the viewing user on an object;
generating a plurality of aggregated story units, each aggregated story unit including two or more of the plurality of stories that share a common characteristic;
selecting an aggregated story unit for presentation to the viewing user;
determining, based at least in part on one more input selection policies, whether to include, in the selected aggregated story unit:
(1) an input element associated with all of the two or more stories included in the selected aggregated story unit
(2) an input element associated with each individual story included in the selected aggregated story unit,
wherein an input selection policy is based at least in part on prior user interactions with other aggregated story units including other stories associated with the same common characteristic as stories included in the selected aggregated story unit;
and
providing the selected aggregated story unit with the input element for presentation to the viewing user based on the determining.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Description7,370 words

Summary752 words

#This invention generally relates to social networking systems, and more specifically to generating user content for aggregated story units.

#Social networking systems have become prevalent in recent years and allow users to connect and communicate with other users. Frequently, social networking systems provide information to a user describing actions performed by other users to which the user is connected. For example, a social networking system may automatically provide a user with a story indicating that another user connected to the user has read a particular news article, or played a particular video game. The user receiving the story may comment on the story, express a preference for the story, share the story with additional users, or perform other interactions with the story.

#A social networking system may group similar stories together to provide information to users more efficiently. However, current social networking systems do not enable users to comment on, indicate a preference for, or otherwise generate content based on a group of similar stories as a whole or based on individual stories in a group in an intelligent manner.

Brief description of the drawings4 figures

#FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a process for generating user content for aggregated story units, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

#FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a system environment suitable for operation of a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

#FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a social networking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed description6,523 words

#The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.

#Overview

#A social networking system allows its users to communicate and interact with other users. In use, a user registers for an account to join the social networking system. The social networking system may thereafter reliably identify the user based on the user account.

Facts

Application

13/759,873Filed 5 Feb 2013

Published

US 2014/0222913 A17 Aug 2014

Granted

19 Apr 2016

Term ends

23 Oct 2033

Estimated · how

20 years from earliest known nonprovisional domestic filing plus recorded patent term adjustment, including 260 days of adjustment. Maintenance-fee lapses, terminal disclaimers and statutory extensions have not been checked. The continuity chain may be incomplete; this is not an enforceability determination.

Classification9 codes

G06Q 10/10
Administration; Management: office automation; Time management
G06Q 10/42
Business processes related to social networking or social networking services: determination of affinities or common interests between users
G06Q 10/48
Business processes related to social networking or social networking services: using social graphs
H04L 12/1831
For computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms: tracking arrangements for later retrieval, e.g. recording contents, participants activities or…

Timeline

5 Feb 2013Application filedUS 13/759,873
9 Apr 2013Assigned to Facebook, Inc.assignment of assignor's interest
7 Aug 2014PublishedUS 2014/0222913 A1
19 Apr 2016GrantedUS 9,319,472 B2
18 Nov 2021Assigned to Meta Platforms, Inc.change of name
12 Oct 2026TodayWithin its term
23 Oct 2033Term endsEstimated, includes 260 days of adjustment

Facilitating generation of user content for aggregated story units

Life of this patent

Facilitating generation of user content for aggregated story units

Life of this patent

Life of this patent

Abstract

Drawings

Drawings

Claims19

Description7,370 words

Drawings

Classification9 codes

Life of this patent

Description7,370 words