US 9,853,924 B2Granted

Providing access to location-specific services within a messenger application conversation thread

AssigneeFacebook, Inc.

InventorsJason Duane Clark, Benjamin Kyle Padget, Christopher Jon Lang

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Abstract

A first instance of a messenger application having a plug-in communicates with a second instance of the messenger application lacking the plug-in. The plug-in provides enhanced functionality to the first instance of the messenger application, while also providing corresponding functionality to the second instance, which lacks the plug-in. For example, the plug-in may provide rich, non-thread-native content to the first instance, while also providing corresponding thread-native content to the second instance. As another example, the plug-in may obtain data from the second instance and provide tailored advertisements to the second instance based upon that data. As another example, the plug-in may obtain location data from one or more of the instances and provide access to location-specific services that take the location data into account.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing computer program code for:

establishing, by a first instance of a messenger application executing on a first client device, a conversation thread with a second instance of the messenger application, the second instance executing on a second client device located remotely from the first client device, the first instance on the first client device including a messenger plug-in and the second instance on the second client device lacking the messenger plug-in;
displaying, by the first instance, a user interface having a thread area configured to display thread-native content;
determining, by the first instance, a location of the second client device based on geolocation data received from the second client device via a messenger server;
forming a request for a location-specific service using the obtained location;
sending the request to a remote location-based service selected from a group consisting of a video streaming service, a cab reservation service, a venue recommendation service, an item recommendation service, and a social networking service;
obtaining a response from the remote location-based service;
and
displaying a portion of the response as thread-native content within the thread area.

5 more elements

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing computer program code for:

establishing, by a first instance of a messenger application having a messenger plug-in and executing on a first client device, a conversation thread with a second instance of the messenger application, the second instance lacking the messenger plug-in and executing on a second client device located remotely from the first client device;
and
by the messenger plug-in of the first instance:
identifying a location of the second client device based on information received from the second client device via a messenger server, the identifying comprising one or more of:
obtaining the location of the second client device based on geolocation data contained in the received information, and
extracting the location of the second client device by using textual analysis to parse keywords contained in text of textual messages exchanged on the conversation thread;
receiving a request from a first user of the first instance to send an item or service to the location of the second client device;
and
responsive to receiving the request, sending, to a remote server of a location-based service, a request to send the item to the location of the second client device.

6 more elements

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing computer program code for:

establishing, by a first instance of a messenger application having a messenger plug-in and executing on a first client device, a conversation thread with a second instance of the messenger application, the second instance lacking the messenger plug-in and executing on a second client device located remotely from the first client device;
obtaining, by the first instance, a location of the first client device;
obtaining, by the first instance, a location of the second client device based on information received from the second client device via a messenger server, the obtaining comprising one or more of:
obtaining the location of the second client device from geolocation data contained in the received information, and
extracting the location of the second client device by using textual analysis to parse keywords contained in text of textual messages exchanged on the conversation thread;
and
by a messenger plug-in of the first instance:
sending, for delivery to a remote server of a third-party location-based service, a request for a recommendation based on both the location of the first client device and the location of the second client device.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/691,939Filed 21 Apr 2015
Published: US 2016/0315884 A127 Oct 2016
Granted: 26 Dec 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

H04L 51/046
Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]: interoperability with other network applications or services
H04W 4/02
Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor: services making use of location information
H04L 51/216
Monitoring or handling of messages: handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
H04L 67/52
Network services: specially adapted for the location of the user terminal