Patent Application
20240320417
Embodiments described herein relate to media content and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to systems, methods, devices, and instructions for annotating a collection of media content items.
Mobile devices, such as smartphones, are often used to generate media content items that can include, without limitation, text messages, digital images (e.g., photographs), videos, and animations. A plurality of messages can be organized into a collection (e.g., gallery) of messages, which an individual can share with other individuals over a network, such as through a social network.
Various ones of the appended drawings merely illustrate some embodiments of the present disclosure and should not be considered as limiting its scope. The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number in which that element is first introduced, and like numerals may describe similar components in different views.
Various embodiments provide systems, methods, devices, and instructions for annotating a collection of media content items (e.g., story or gallery of media content items). According to some embodiments, an annotation system automatically determines one or more annotations for a plurality of media content items, and generates a collection of media content items that associates the determined annotations with the plurality of media content items. Depending on the embodiment, annotations that may be determined for the plurality of media content (and associated with the collection for the media content items) can include, without limitation, a caption (e.g., single word or phrase), a geographic location, a category, a novelty measurement, an event (e.g., periodic event, ongoing event, or concluded event), and a highlight media content item (e.g., for representing the collection). One or more other annotations may be determined by the annotation system. For some embodiments, the plurality of media content items being processed (e.g., implemented into an annotated collection of media content items) is automatically identified using algorithms or rules that groups (e.g., clusters or curates) the plurality of media content items from a larger plurality of media content items (e.g., stored on a media content item database) based on various factors or concepts (e.g., topics, events, places, celebrities, space/time proximity, media sources, breaking news, etc.) . . . . By annotating collections of media content items, various embodiments can improve a computing device ability to search for, organize, or present, such collections based on one or more of their determined characteristics.
The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machine program products that embody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide an understanding of various embodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In general, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques are not necessarily shown in detail.
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein.
Accordingly, each messaging client application 104 can communicate and exchange data with another messaging client application 104 and with the messaging server system 108 via the network 106. The data exchanged between messaging client applications 104, and between a messaging client application 104 and the messaging server system 108, includes functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) as well as payload data (e.g., text, audio, video or other multimedia data).
The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality via the network 106 to a particular messaging client application 104. While certain functions of the messaging system 100 are described herein as being performed by either a messaging client application 104 or by the messaging server system 108, it will be appreciated that the location of certain functionality either within the messaging client application 104 or the messaging server system 108 is a design choice. For example, it may be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology and functionality within the messaging server system 108, but to later migrate this technology and functionality to the messaging client application 104 where a client device 102 has a sufficient processing capacity.
The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operations that are provided to the messaging client application 104. Such operations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, and processing data generated by the messaging client application 104. This data may include message content, client device information, geolocation information, media annotation and overlays, message content persistence conditions, social network information, and live event information, as examples. Data exchanges within the messaging system 100 are invoked and controlled through functions available via user interfaces (UIs) of the messaging client application 104.
Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, an Application Program Interface (API) server 110 is coupled to, and provides a programmatic interface to, an application server 112. The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a database server 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which is stored data associated with messages (e.g., collections of messages) processed by the application server 112.
Dealing specifically with the Application Program Interface (API) server 110, this server receives and transmits message data (e.g., commands and message payloads) between the client device 102 and the application server 112. Specifically, the API server 110 provides a set of interfaces (e.g., routines and protocols) that can be called or queried by the messaging client application 104 in order to invoke functionality of the application server 112. The API server 110 exposes various functions supported by the application server 112, including account registration; login functionality; the sending of messages, via the application server 112, from a particular messaging client application 104 to another messaging client application 104; the sending of media files (e.g., digital images or video) from a messaging client application 104 to the messaging server application 114, and for possible access by another messaging client application 104; the setting of a collection of media content items (e.g., story), the retrieval of a list of friends of a user of a client device 102; the retrieval of such collections; the retrieval of messages and content, the adding and deletion of friends to a social graph; the location of friends within a social graph; and opening an application event (e.g., relating to the messaging client application 104).
The application server 112 hosts a number of applications, systems, and subsystems, including a messaging server application 114, an annotation system 116, and a social network system 122. The messaging server application 114 implements a number of message processing technologies and functions, particularly related to the aggregation and other processing of media content items (e.g., textual and multimedia content items) included in messages received from multiple instances of the messaging client application 104. As will be described herein, media content items from multiple sources may be aggregated into collections of media content items (e.g., stories or galleries), which may be automatically annotated by various embodiments described herein. For example, the collections of media content items can be annotated by associating the collections with captions, geographic locations, categories, novelty measurements, events, highlight media content items, and the like. The collections of media content items can be made available for access, by the messaging server application 114, to the messaging client application 104. Other processor- and memory-intensive processing of data may also be performed server-side by the messaging server application 114, in view of the hardware requirements for such processing.
The application server 112 also includes the annotation system 116 that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations, typically with respect to digital images or video received within the payload of a message at the messaging server application 114.
The social network system 122 supports various social networking functions and services, and makes these functions and services available to the messaging server application 114. To this end, the social network system 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph 304 (
The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a database server 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which is stored data associated with messages processed by the messaging server application 114.
The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing the temporary access to content permitted by the messaging client application 104 and the messaging server application 114. To this end, the ephemeral timer system 202 incorporates a number of timers that, based on duration and display parameters associated with a message, or collection of messages (e.g., a story), selectively display and enable access to messages and associated content via the messaging client application 104. Further details regarding the operation of the ephemeral timer system 202 are provided below.
The collection management system 204 is responsible for managing collections of media content items (e.g., collections of text, image, video, and audio data), which may be initially user curated or automatically generated based on various factors or concepts (e.g., topics, events, places, celebrities, space/time proximity, media sources, breaking news, etc.) and then annotated as described herein. In some examples, a collection of media content items (e.g., messages, including digital images, video, text, and audio) may be organized into a “gallery,” such as an “event gallery” or an “event story.” Such a collection may be made available for a specified time period, such as the duration of an event to which the media content items relate. For example, media content items relating to a music concert may be made available as a “story” for the duration of that music concert. The collection management system 204 may also be responsible for publishing an icon that provides notification of the existence of a particular collection to the user interface of the messaging client application 104. According to some embodiments, the icon comprises one or more media content items from the collection that are identified as highlighted media content items for the collection as described herein.
The collection management system 204 furthermore includes a curation interface 208 that allows a collection manager to manage and curate a particular collection of media content items. For example, the curation interface 208 enables an event organizer to curate a collection of media content items relating to a specific event (e.g., delete inappropriate media content items or redundant messages). Additionally, the collection management system 204 employs machine vision (or image recognition technology) and media content item rules to automatically curate a media content item collection. In certain embodiments, compensation may be paid to a user for inclusion of user-generated media content items into a collection. In such cases, the curation interface 208 operates to automatically make payments to such users for the use of their media content items.
The annotation system 206 determines one or more annotations for a plurality of media content items, and generates a collection of media content items that associates the determined annotations with the plurality of media content items as described herein. Depending on the embodiment, annotations that may be determined for the plurality of media content (and associated with the collection for the media content items) can include, without limitation, a caption, a geographic location, a category, a novelty measurement, an event, and a highlight media content item (e.g., for representing the collection). For some embodiments, the annotation system 206 determines a particular caption for a plurality of media content items by selecting the particular caption from a set of captions, where the set of captions being extracted from the plurality of media content items. The annotation system 206 determines a particular geographic location for the plurality of media content items. The annotation system 206 determines a particular category for the plurality of media content items based on at least one of analysis of a set of visual labels identified for the plurality of media content items, or analysis of at least one caption in the set of captions. The annotation system 206 generates a collection of media content items that comprises the plurality of media content items and collection annotation data that at least associates the collection with the particular caption, with the particular geographic location, and with the particular category. The annotation system 206 provides the collection of media content items to a client device for access by a user at the client device.
The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table 314. The entity table 302 stores entity data, including an entity graph 304. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table 302 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects, places, events etc. Regardless of type, any entity regarding which the messaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognized entity. Each entity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as an entity type identifier (not shown).
The entity graph 304 furthermore stores information regarding relationships and associations between entities. Such relationships may be social, professional (e.g., work at a common corporation or organization) interest-based or activity-based, merely for example.
In an annotation table 312, the database 120 also stores annotation data, such as annotations applied to a message or a collection of media content items. As described herein, annotations applied to a collection of media content items can include, without limitation, a caption (e.g., single word or phrase), a geographic location, a category, a novelty measurement, an event (e.g., periodic event, ongoing event, or concluded event), and a highlight media content item (e.g., for representing the collection). Annotations applied to a message may include, for example, filters, media overlays, texture fills and sample digital images in an annotation table 312. Filters, media overlays, texture fills, and sample digital images for which data is stored within the annotation table 312 are associated with and applied to videos (for which data is stored in a video table 310) or digital images (for which data is stored in an image table 308). In one example, an image overlay can be displayed as overlaid on a digital image or video during presentation to a recipient user. For example, a user may append a media overlay on a selected portion of the digital image, resulting in presentation of an annotated digital image that includes the media overlay over the selected portion of the digital image. In this way, a media overlay can be used, for example, as a digital sticker or a texture fill that a user can use to annotate or otherwise enhance a digital image, which may be captured by a user (e.g., photograph).
Filters may be of various types, including user-selected filters from a gallery of filters presented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104 when the sending user is composing a message. Other types of filters include geolocation filters (also known as geo-filters) which may be presented to a sending user based on geographic location. For example, geolocation filters specific to a neighborhood or special location may be presented within a user interface by the messaging client application 104, based on geolocation information determined by a GPS unit of the client device 102. Another type of filter is a data filter, which may be selectively presented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104, based on other inputs or information gathered by the client device 102 during the message creation process. Examples of data filters include current temperature at a specific location, a current speed at which a sending user is traveling, battery life for a client device 102, or the current time.
Other annotation data that may be stored within the image table 308 is so-called “lens” data. A “lens” may be a real-time special effect and sound that may be added to an image or a video.
As mentioned above, the video table 310 stores video data which, in one embodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintained within the message table 314. Similarly, the image table 308 stores image data associated with messages for which message data is stored in the entity table 302. The entity table 302 may associate various annotations from the annotation table 312 with various images and videos stored in the image table 308 and the video table 310.
A story table 306 stores data regarding collections of messages and associated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into a collection of media content items (e.g., a story or a gallery). The creation of a particular collection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., each user for which a record is maintained in the entity table 302) or automatically generated based on various factors or concepts (e.g., topics, events, places, celebrities, space/time proximity, media sources, breaking news, etc.). A user may create a “personal story” in the form of a collection of media content items that has been created and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, the user interface of the messaging client application 104 may include an icon that is user-selectable to enable a sending user to add specific media content items to his or her personal story.
A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collection of media content items from multiple users that is created manually, automatically, or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example, a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted media content items from various locations and events. Users whose client devices have location services enabled and are at a common location event at a particular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via a user interface of the messaging client application 104, to contribute media content items to a particular live story. The live story may be identified to the user by the messaging client application 104, based on his or her location. The end result is a “live story” told from a community perspective.
A further type of media content item collection is known as a “location story,” which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within a specific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus) to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, a contribution to a location story may require a second degree of authentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specific organization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the university campus).
The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of message 400 may be pointers to locations in tables within which content data values are stored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 406 may be a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table 308. Similarly, values within the message video payload 408 may point to data stored within a video table 310, values stored within the message annotations 412 may point to data stored in an annotation table 312, values stored within the message story identifier 418 may point to data stored in a story table 306, and values stored within the message sender identifier 422 and the message receiver identifier 424 may point to user records stored within an entity table 302.
An ephemeral message 502 is shown to be associated with a message duration parameter 506, the value of which determines an amount of time that the ephemeral message 502 will be displayed to a receiving user of the ephemeral message 502 by the messaging client application 104. In one embodiment, an ephemeral message 502 is viewable by a receiving user for up to a maximum of 10 seconds, depending on the amount of time that the sending user specifies using the message duration parameter 506.
The message duration parameter 506 and the message receiver identifier 424 are shown to be inputs to a message timer 512, which is responsible for determining the amount of time that the ephemeral message 502 is shown to a particular receiving user identified by the message receiver identifier 424. In particular, the ephemeral message 502 will only be shown to the relevant receiving user for a time period determined by the value of the message duration parameter 506. The message timer 512 is shown to provide output to a more generalized ephemeral timer system 202, which is responsible for the overall timing of display of content (e.g., an ephemeral message 502) to a receiving user.
The ephemeral message 502 is shown in
Additionally, each ephemeral message 502 within the ephemeral message story 504 has an associated story participation parameter 510, a value of which determines the duration of time for which the ephemeral message 502 will be accessible within the context of the ephemeral message story 504. Accordingly, a particular ephemeral message story 504 may “expire” and become inaccessible within the context of the ephemeral message story 504, prior to the ephemeral message story 504 itself expiring in terms of the story duration parameter 508. The story duration parameter 508, story participation parameter 510, and message receiver identifier 424 each provide input to a story timer 514, which operationally determines, firstly, whether a particular ephemeral message 502 of the ephemeral message story 504 will be displayed to a particular receiving user and, if so, for how long. Note that the ephemeral message story 504 is also aware of the identity of the particular receiving user as a result of the message receiver identifier 424.
Accordingly, the story timer 514 operationally controls the overall lifespan of an associated ephemeral message story 504, as well as an individual ephemeral message 502 included in the ephemeral message story 504. In one embodiment, each and every ephemeral message 502 within the ephemeral message story 504 remains viewable and accessible for a time period specified by the story duration parameter 508. In a further embodiment, a certain ephemeral message 502 may expire, within the context of ephemeral message story 504, based on a story participation parameter 510. Note that a message duration parameter 506 may still determine the duration of time for which a particular ephemeral message 502 is displayed to a receiving user, even within the context of the ephemeral message story 504. Accordingly, the message duration parameter 506 determines the duration of time that a particular ephemeral message 502 is displayed to a receiving user, regardless of whether the receiving user is viewing that ephemeral message 502 inside or outside the context of an ephemeral message story 504.
The ephemeral timer system 202 may furthermore operationally remove a particular ephemeral message 502 from the ephemeral message story 504 based on a determination that it has exceeded an associated story participation parameter 510. For example, when a sending user has established a story participation parameter 510 of 24 hours from posting, the ephemeral timer system 202 will remove the relevant ephemeral message 502 from the ephemeral message story 504 after the specified 24 hours. The ephemeral timer system 202 also operates to remove an ephemeral message story 504 either when the story participation parameter 510 for each and every ephemeral message 502 within the ephemeral message story 504 has expired, or when the ephemeral message story 504 itself has expired in terms of the story duration parameter 508.
In certain use cases, a creator of a particular ephemeral message story 504 may specify an indefinite story duration parameter 508. In this case, the expiration of the story participation parameter 510 for the last remaining ephemeral message 502 within the ephemeral message story 504 will determine when the ephemeral message story 504 itself expires. In this case, a new ephemeral message 502, added to the ephemeral message story 504, with a new story participation parameter 510, effectively extends the life of an ephemeral message story 504 to equal the value of the story participation parameter 510.
Responsive to the ephemeral timer system 202 determining that an ephemeral message story 504 has expired (e.g., is no longer accessible), the ephemeral timer system 202 communicates with the messaging system 100 (and, for example, specifically the messaging client application 104) to cause an indicium (e.g., an icon) associated with the relevant ephemeral message story 504 to no longer be displayed within a user interface of the messaging client application 104. Similarly, when the ephemeral timer system 202 determines that the message duration parameter 506 for a particular ephemeral message 502 has expired, the ephemeral timer system 202 causes the messaging client application 104 to no longer display an indicium (e.g., an icon or textual identification) associated with the ephemeral message 502.
Any one or more of the modules described may be implemented using hardware alone (e.g., one or more of the computer processors of a machine, such as machine 1000) or a combination of hardware and software. For example, any described module of the annotation system 206 may physically include an arrangement of one or more of the processors 600 (e.g., a subset of or among the one or more processors of the machine, such the machine 1000) configured to perform the operations described herein for that module. As another example, any module of the annotation system 206 may include software, hardware, or both, that configure an arrangement of one or more processors 600 (e.g., among the one or more processors of the machine, such as the machine 1000)) to perform the operations described herein for that module. Accordingly, different modules of the annotation system 206 may include and configure different arrangements of such processors 600 or a single arrangement of such processors 600 at different points in time. Moreover, any two or more modules of the annotation system 206 may be combined into a single module, and the functions described herein for a single module may be subdivided among multiple modules. Furthermore, according to various embodiments, modules described herein as being implemented within a single machine, database, or device may be distributed across multiple machines, databases, or devices.
The media content item grouping module 602 identifies a plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, the plurality of media content items is identified by grouping (e.g., clustering) specific media content items based on one or more factors or concepts. Example factors/concepts can include, without limitation, topics, events, places, celebrities, space/time proximity, media sources, breaking news, and the like. For instance, specific media content items may be grouped into a plurality of media content items based on: proximity of geographic locations associated with the specific media content items; proximity of times associated with the specific media content items; topics associated with the specific media content items; media sources associated with the specific media content items; or media types associated with the specific media content items. Depending on the embodiments, the plurality of media content items may be identified by the media content item grouping module 602 from a larger plurality of media content items, which may be stored on a datastore (e.g., database) that collects media content items from a plurality of users (e.g., through their respective client devices 102). For instance, the larger plurality of media content items (from which the plurality of media content items is identified by the module 602) may comprise media content items posted to an online service, such as a social network platform, by users of the online service.
The plurality of media content items may be identified by the media content item grouping module 602 automatically, which may occur on a periodic basis (e.g., every fifteen to forty minutes) or near real-time basis. The plurality of media content items may be identified as part of a dynamic collection pipeline that gathers together media content items from one or more sources into coherent groups (e.g., coherent clusters) based on, for example, a topic (e.g., popular topic, fresh topic, widespread topic, breaking news, fashion, sports, etc.), a visual feature, proximity of space (e.g., at or around a similar geographic location, such as places with centroids less than 200 m apart), proximity of time (e.g., same time, same day, same day of the week, etc.), quality (e.g., quality of user providing the media content item or quality of the media content item), or some combination thereof.
The caption determination module 604 determines a particular caption (e.g., particular caption phrase) for a plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, the particular caption is determined by extracting a set of captions from the plurality of media content items and selecting the particular caption from the set of captions. In this way, the caption determination module 604 can determine a best caption to describe or represent the plurality of media content items.
For some embodiments, the caption determination module 604 extracts, from the plurality of media content items, a set of captions associated with one or more individual media content items in the plurality of media content items. Subsequently, the caption determination module 604 ranks captions in the set of captions by scoring one or more captions in the set of captions. The scoring of an individual caption (e.g., comprising a single word or a phrase) may be determined, for example, based on popularity of the individual caption within the plurality of media content items, uniqueness of the individual caption within the plurality of media content items, popularity of individual terms within the individual caption, independence of the individual caption within the plurality of media content items, or some combination thereof. For some embodiments, one or more of these factors are utilized to assign scores to individual captions extracted from the plurality of media content items. Thereafter, a scored caption having the highest rank (e.g., based on its assigned score) may be determined (e.g., selected) by the caption determination module 604 as the particular caption for the plurality of media content items.
The popularity of the individual caption within the plurality of media content items may be determined by the caption determination module 604 based on the number of media content items in the plurality that are associated with the individual caption, based on the number of users providing the media content items in the plurality (e.g., users who posted media content items to a social networking platform that are now included in the plurality) who have used the individual caption with respect to media content items not in the plurality (e.g., other media content items the users posted on the social network platform), or a combination of both.
The uniqueness of the individual caption within the plurality of media content items may be determined by the caption determination module 604 based on how frequently the individual caption is used for media content items associated with different geographic locations and different times, historical data on media content item submissions (e.g., historical media content item postings to a social networking platform), or a combination of both.
The popularity of individual terms within the individual caption may be determined by the caption determination module 604 based on media content items in the plurality of media content items that are not associated with the individual caption but that are associated with a caption that includes at least some (but not all) of the individual caption (e.g., sub-phrases of the individual caption). The popularity of individual terms may be determined by determining how many media content items in the plurality of media content items satisfy such a condition.
The independence of the individual caption, within the plurality of media content items, can indicate how sufficient the individual caption is in describing the majority of the media content items in the plurality. The caption determination module 604 may consider all the media content items in the plurality associated with a given caption that includes the individual caption and assign each of those associations a coverage score (e.g., between 0 and 1) that measures how much of the given caption is covered by the individual caption. The independence of the individual caption may be defined based on the distribution of coverage scores. A high independence score (e.g., independence score close to 1) may represent that the individual caption is typically used as a full caption when associated with a media content item in the plurality, whereas a low independence score (e.g., independence score close to 0) may represent that the individual caption is typically used along with other terms or phrases to form a full snap caption.
The geographic location determination module 606 determines a particular geographic location for the plurality of media content items. As used herein, a geographic location can comprise a physical location associated with geographic coordinates or a place identified by a place type (e.g., business establishment, restaurant, coffee shop, library, shopping mall, park, etc.) or a proper name (e.g., STARBUCKS, MCDONALDS, EIFFEL TOWER, WALMART, STAPLES CENTER, etc.). According to some embodiments, the particular geographic location is determined by the geographic location determination module 606 using a place recognition model that can infer where a particular media content item was created or captured based on processing visual content (e.g., digital image) included in the media content item. The place recognition model may be trained on a place dataset (e.g., comprising digital images and associated identifiers for different places), which enables it to identify a learned place based on what is depicted in a new digital image. Additionally, the particular geographic location is determined by the geographic location determination module 606 using metadata included by one or more media content items of the plurality of media content items.
The category determination module 608 determines a particular category (e.g., concert, sports game, fashion show, animal story, food, party, politics, protest, breaking news, etc.) for the plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, the particular category is determined based on analysis (e.g., statistical analysis) of a set of visual labels identified for the plurality of media content items, based on analysis (e.g., statistical analysis) of at least one caption in a set of captions extracted from the plurality of media content items, or a combination of both. The set of visual labels (e.g., building, vehicle, grass, etc.) may be identified for a media content item by using a machine learning system (e.g., deep neural network model) that can identify an object or a concept appearing in visual content (e.g., digital image or video) of the media content item. For some embodiments, the category determination module 608 uses caption/visual label representations (e.g., vectors) for categories to determine the particular category for the plurality of media content items.
For example, a caption/visual label representation for a given category may be formed by determining captions and visual labels relevant to the given category and determining their individual relevance scores. The process for determining this may comprise identifying captions and visual labels relevant to the given category from media content items or collections of media content items known or identified to be related to the given category, and extracting and aggregating captions or visual labels from known/identified media content items and collections. A caption/visual label representation may be formed for each possible category that can be associated with the plurality of media content items.
Additionally, caption counts may be determined for each caption extracted from the plurality of media content items, and the resulting caption counts may be aggregated such that each caption count for a given caption is weighted based on the uniqueness of that given caption. This aggregation can result in a caption/visual label representation for the plurality of media content items.
Subsequently, for each possible category, the caption/visual label representation for the plurality of media content items is compared against the caption/visual label representation of the possible category. Eventually, the category determination module 608 can determine (e.g., select) the possible categories having the smallest caption/visual label representation difference (e.g., vector difference) with the caption/visual label representation for the plurality of media content items.
The novelty determination module 610 determines a novelty measurement for the plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, the novelty measurement is determined based on at least one caption in a set of captions extracted from the plurality of media content items, or based on at least one visual label in a set of visual labels identified for the plurality of media content items.
For example, the novelty measurement of the plurality of media content items can be determined by the novelty determination module 610 based on an aggregation of novelty measurements of individual captions in the set of captions, individual visual labels in the set of visual labels of the plurality of media content items, or both. The novelty measurement of individual captions or visual labels can be determined by the novelty determination module 610 determining a frequency of new media content items (e.g., those newly posted to a social networking platform by various users), across different time horizons (e.g., past twenty-four hours, average daily count in past week, same day last week, etc.), associated with the individual captions and visual labels. Based on determined frequencies of the new media content items (associated with the individual captions and visual labels), the novelty determination module 610 can determine a ratio of frequencies, corresponding to different time periods, that can represent a novelty measurement. For instance, for a given caption, a ratio of the twenty-four hour frequency of new media content items (associated with the given caption) to the average daily frequency of new media content items (associated with the given caption) can determine the novelty of the given caption.
The periodic event determination module 612 determines whether the plurality of media content items is associated with a periodic event (e.g., an event that occurs repeatedly on a periodic basis). Initially, the periodic event determination module 612 may determine that the plurality of media content items is associated with a particular event based on, for example, at least one caption extracted from the plurality of media content items, or at least one visual label identified for the plurality of media content items. For example, the periodic event determination module 612 may use a model that can recognize an event (e.g., party, concert, protest, etc.) based on visual content from the plurality of media content items. Once the particular event has been determined for the plurality of media content items, the periodic event determination module 612 can determine whether the particular event is a periodic event.
According to some embodiments, the periodic event determination module 612 determines whether the plurality of media content items is associated with a periodic event based on a similarity of at least one caption, in the set of captions, to a given caption of one or more other media content items associated with the periodic event. Additionally, for some embodiments, the periodic event determination module 612 determines whether the plurality of media content items is associated with a periodic event based on a similarity of at least one visual label, in the set of visual labels, to a given visual label of the one or more other media content items associated with the periodic event. For example, the periodic event determination module 612 may check whether one or more captions or visual labels of the plurality of media content items are similar to the captions and visual labels corresponding to media content items taken at the same geographic location or at (or around) the same time of the day (e.g., over the past several days or past week) as the plurality of media content items.
The ongoing event determination module 614 determines whether the plurality of media content items is associated with an ongoing event. Initially, the ongoing event determination module 614 may determine that the plurality of media content items is associated with a particular event based on, for example, at least one caption extracted from the plurality of media content items, or at least one visual label identified for the plurality of media content items. For example, the ongoing event determination module 614 may use a model that can recognize an event (e.g., party, concert, protest, etc.) based on visual content from the plurality of media content items. Once the particular event has been determined for the plurality of media content items, the ongoing event determination module 614 can determine whether the particular event is an ongoing event.
According to some embodiments, the ongoing event determination module 614 determines whether the plurality of media content items is associated with an ongoing event based on a trend of media content items being added to the plurality of media content items over a period of time. For instance, the ongoing event determination module 614 may determine a trend based on a number (e.g., volume) of new media content items (e.g., those newly posted to a social networking platform by various users). Additionally, an increasing or approximately stable number can signal that an event associated with the plurality of media content items is an ongoing event.
The concluded event determination module 616 determines whether the collection of media is further associated with a concluded event. Initially, the concluded event determination module 616 may determine that the plurality of media content items is associated with a particular event based on, for example, at least one caption extracted from the plurality of media content items, or at least one visual label identified for the plurality of media content items. For example, the concluded event determination module 616 may use a model that can recognize an event (e.g., party, concert, protest, etc.) based on visual content from the plurality of media content items. Once the particular event has been determined for the plurality of media content items, the concluded event determination module 616 can determine whether the particular event is an ongoing event.
According to some embodiments, the concluded event determination module 616 determines that the plurality of media content items is associated with a concluded event in response to the ongoing event determination module 614 determining that the plurality of media content items is not associated with an ongoing event.
For some embodiments, the concluded event determination module 616 determines whether the plurality of media content items is associated with a concluded event based on a trend of media content items being added to the plurality of media content items over a period of time. For instance, the concluded event determination module 616 may determine a trend based on a number (e.g., volume) of new media content items (e.g., those newly posted to a social networking platform by various users). Additionally, a decreasing number can signal that an event associated with the plurality of media content items is a concluded event (or soon to conclude event).
The highlight determination module 618 determines a set of highlight media content items for the plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, the set of highlight media content items is selected, from the plurality of media content items, based on a set of scores determined for each individual media content item in the plurality of media content items, which can then be combined to determine a combined score for each individual media content item. For example, the highlight determination module 618 may determine the set of highlight media content items by determining for individual media content items in the plurality of media content items: a score representing how cohesive or representative (e.g., in terms of topics or visual labels) the individual media content item is with respect to the plurality of media content items; a score representing how descriptive the captions or tags (e.g., place tags) associated with the individual media content item are with respect to the plurality of media content items; or a score representing how many media content items similar to those of the individual media content item appear in the plurality of media content items. Additionally, the highlight determination module 618 may determine the set of highlight media content items by determining, for individual media content items in the plurality of media content items: a score representing whether the individual media content item meets with a user or system preference (e.g., video content items preferred); or a score representing a quality of the individual media content item.
For an individual media content item in the plurality of media content items, the highlight determination module 618 can determine a score representing how cohesive or representative (e.g., in terms of topics or visual labels) the individual media content item is with respect to the plurality of media content items. In doing so, an individual media content item associated with a “musician” visual label or with a caption including the term “musician” can be preferred as a highlight media content item for a collection of media content items associated with a concert event.
For some embodiments, a pre-compiled set of visual labels that is common or interesting with respect to a given type of event is used by the highlight determination module 618. For example, for a concert event, the pre-compiled set of visual labels can include such visual labels as “musician,” “drummer,” “guitarist,” “bassist,” and “backup singer,” which reflect a preference for highlight media content items that depict such visual content for collections associated with a concert event. Accordingly, a score determined by the highlight determination module 618 can represent whether the individual media content item is associated with at least one visual label included by the pre-compiled set of visual labels.
Similarly, for some embodiments, a pre-compiled set of relevant terms that is common or interesting with respect to a given event or a given type of event is used by the highlight determination module 618. For instance, for a football game, the pre-compiled set of relevant terms can include such terms as “touchdown” or “Super Bowl,” which reflects a preference for highlight media content items associated with a football game event. Accordingly, a score determined by the highlight determination module 618 can represent whether the individual media content item is associated with at least one term included by the pre-compiled set of relevant terms.
For an individual media content item in the plurality of media content items, the highlight determination module 618 can determine a score representing how descriptive the captions or tags (e.g., place tags) associated with the individual media content item are with respect to the plurality of media content items based on the uniqueness of a caption associated with the individual media content item, based on whether the individual media content item has a geo-filter, based on whether the individual media content item has a venue filter, or some combination thereof.
For an individual media content item in the plurality of media content items, the highlight determination module 618 can determine a score representing how many media content items similar to those of the set of highlight media content items appear in the plurality of media content items based on aggregated similarity of media content items in the plurality of media content items to the individual media content item (e.g., similarity with respect to a time, a geographic location, a caption, or visual feature).
For an individual media content item in the plurality of media content items, the highlight determination module 618 can determine a score representing a quality of the individual media content item by determining a creator quality score representing user interactions with media content items posted by a user providing the individual media content item. Additionally, the highlight determination module 618 can determine a score representing a quality of the individual media content item by determining a media quality score for the individual media content item based on input signals of the individual media content item, which can be used to filter out individual media content items that are, for example, too dark, too bright, too shaky, blurry, or lack valuable visual content.
For some embodiments, determining the set of highlight media content items by the highlight determination module 618 comprises selecting a cover media content item, from the set of highlight media content items, that will represent the plurality of media content items as a collection of media content items accessible by a client device associated with a user. For example, to represent the plurality of media content items as a collection, at least some portion of the cover media content item may be used to generate a graphical tile that can be presented to a user on a graphical user interface (e.g., displayed on a client device 102 associated with the user) as the representation of the collection. The cover media content item may be selected from the set of highlight media content items by scoring media content items in the set of highlight media content items, and selecting the cover media content item based on the resulting scores (e.g., cover media content item corresponding to the highest score). The components for scoring a given highlight media content item can include, without limitation: original score that resulted in the given highlight media content item being included in the set of highlight media content items; representativeness of visual features (e.g., visual labels) of the given highlight media content item relative to the plurality of media content items (e.g., what the story is generally about); or one or more user or system preferences for media content items (e.g., preferences for non-selfie media content items and non-captioned media content items). Representativeness of visual features of the given highlight media content item relative to the plurality of media content items may be determined by measuring a cosine similarity of aggregated visual labels of the plurality of media content items to visual labels of the given highlight media content item.
The collection generation module 620 generates a collection of media content items that comprises the plurality of media content items and collection annotation data that at least associates the collection with (if not also stores) determined associations, such as those determined by various components of the annotation system 206 (e.g., the caption determination module 604, the geographic location determination module 606, the category determination module 608, the novelty determination module 610, the periodic event determination module 612, the ongoing event determination module 614, the concluded event determination module 616, and the highlight determination module 618).
The collection generation module 620 may generate a collection of media content items by generating one or more data structures (e.g., data records in the story table 306) that represent the collection of media content items. The annotations determined by the various components of the annotation system 206 may be stored in data structure separate from data structure for collections of media content items (e.g., store annotations as records in the annotation table 312). By generating and storing the data structures, some embodiments store the collection of media content items for future access (e.g., by users of client devices 102). For instance, a set of data records generated (e.g., in the story table 306) for the collection of media content items can comprise a set of identifiers that identify individual media content items that make up the collection, and can comprise data storing, representing, or associating (with the collection) annotations determined by the various components of the annotation system 206 (e.g., data records in the story table 306 refer to records in the annotation table 312 that store annotations associated with collections).
For example, the collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the particular caption determined by the caption determination module 604. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the particular geographic location determined by the geographic location determination module 606. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the particular category determined by the category determination module 608. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the novelty measurement determined by the novelty determination module 610. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with a periodic event in response to the periodic event determination module 612 determining that the collection is associated with the ongoing event. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with an ongoing event in response to the ongoing event determination module 614 determining that the collection is associated with the ongoing event. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with a concluded event in response to the concluded event determination module 616 determining that the collection is associated with the concluded event. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the set of highlight media content items determined by the highlight determination module 618.
The collection provider module 622 provides the collection of media content items, generated by the collection generation module 620, to a client device (e.g., the client device 102) for access by a user at the client device. Depending on the embodiment, the collection provider module 622 may make the collection of media content items generated by the collection generation module 620 available for access by the client device. The providing, for instance, may comprise publishing the collection of media content items to an online service accessible (e.g., a social networking platform) by the client device. Additionally, the providing may comprise transmitting some or all of the collection of media content items to the client device for local storage at the client device and subsequent viewing.
For example, the collection of media content items generated by the collection generation module 620 may be stored with the messaging server system 108. In response to a request from the client device 102 to the message server system 108, the stored collection of media content items may be provided (e.g., transmitted in whole or in part) from the message server system 108 to the client device 102 for access at the client device 102 by a user (e.g., for viewing through a graphical user interface presented by the messaging client application 104). In another example, the collection of media content items may be published to an online resource, such as a website, which may be accessible by one or more users through their associated client devices. In some instances, the collection of media content items may be provided by the collection provider module 622 as a story or gallery, which may comprise such as a collection of messages or ephemeral messages.
At operation 702, the caption determination module 604 determines a particular caption for a plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, the particular caption is determined by extracting a set of captions from the plurality of media content items and selecting the particular caption from the set of captions. For instance, the set of captions can be extracted from the plurality of media content items, a set of scores for the set of the set of captions can be determined, a ranking for the set of captions can be determined based on the set of scores, and the particular caption can be selected from the set of captions based on the ranking.
At operation 704, the geographic location determination module 606 determines a particular geographic location for the plurality of media content items. As used herein, a geographic location can comprise a physical location associated with geographic coordinates or a place identified by a place type (e.g., business establishment, restaurant, coffee shop, library, shopping mall, park, etc.) or a proper name (e.g., STARBUCKS, MCDONALDS, EIFFEL TOWER, WALMART, STAPLES CENTER, etc.).
At operation 706, the category determination module 608 determines a particular category for the plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, the particular category is determined based on a set of visual labels identified for the plurality of media content items, analysis of at least one caption in a set of captions extracted from the plurality of media content items, or both.
At operation 708, the collection generation module 620 generates a collection of media content items that comprises the plurality of media content items and collection annotation data that at least associates the collection with (if not also stores) determined associations, such as those determined by one or more operations 702, 704, 706. For example, the collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the particular caption determined by operation 702. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the particular geographic location determined by operation 704. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the particular category determined by operation 706.
At operation 710, the collection provider module 622 provides the collection of media content items, generated by operation 708, to a client device (e.g., the client device 102) for access by a user at the client device. Depending on the embodiment, the collection provider module 622 may make the collection of media content items generated by operation 708 available for access by the client device. The providing, for instance, may comprise publishing the collection of media content items to an online service accessible (e.g., a social networking platform) by the client device. Additionally, the providing may comprise transmitting some or all of the collection of media content items to the client device for local storage at the client device and subsequent viewing.
At operation 802, the media content item grouping module 602 identifies a plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, the plurality of media content items is identified by grouping (e.g., clustering) specific media content items based on one or more factors or concepts. Example factors/concepts can include, without limitation, topics, events, places, celebrities, space/time proximity, media sources, breaking news, and the like.
At operation 804, the caption determination module 604 determines a particular caption for a plurality of media content items. For some embodiments, operation 804 is similar to operation 702 of the method 700 described above with respect to
At operation 806, the geographic location determination module 606 determines a particular geographic location for the plurality of media content items. For some embodiments, operation 806 is similar to operation 704 of the method 700 described above with respect to
At operation 808, the category determination module 608 determines a particular category for the plurality of media content items. For some embodiments, operation 808 is similar to operation 706 of the method 700 described above with respect to
At operation 810, the novelty determination module 610 determines a novelty measurement for the plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, the novelty measurement is determined based on at least one caption in a set of captions extracted from the plurality of media content items, or based on at least one visual label in a set of visual labels identified for the plurality of media content items.
At operation 812, the modules 612, 614 and 616 determine an event for the plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, determining the event comprises the periodic event determination module 612 determining whether the plurality of media content items is associated with a periodic event (e.g., an event that occurs repeatedly on a periodic basis). The periodic event determination module 612 may determine whether the plurality of media content items is associated with a periodic event based on a similarity of at least one caption, in the set of captions, to a given caption of one or more other media content items associated with the periodic event. The periodic event determination module 612 may determine whether the plurality of media content items is associated with a periodic event based on a similarity of at least one visual label, in the set of visual labels, to a given visual label of the one or more other media content items associated with the periodic event.
According some embodiments, determining the event comprises the ongoing event determination module 614 determining whether the plurality of media content items is associated with an ongoing event. The ongoing event determination module 614 may determine whether the plurality of media content items is associated with an ongoing event based on a trend of media content items being added to the plurality of media content items over a period of time. For some embodiments, determining the event comprises the concluded event determination module 616 determining whether the collection of media is further associated with a concluded event.
At operation 814, the highlight determination module 618 determines a set of highlight media content items for the plurality of media content items. According to some embodiments, the set of highlight media content items is selected, from the plurality of media content items, based on a set of scores determined for individual media content items in the plurality of media content items.
At operation 816, the collection generation module 620 generates a collection of media content items that comprises the plurality of media content items and collection annotation data that at least associates the collection with (if not also stores) determined associations, such as those determined by one or more of operations 804, 806, 808, 810, 812, 814. For example, the collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the particular caption determined by operation 804. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the particular geographic location determined by operation 806. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the particular category determined by operation 808. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the novelty measurement determined by operation 810. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with a periodic event in response to operation 812 determining that the collection is associated with the ongoing event. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with an ongoing event in response to operation 812 determining that the collection is associated with the ongoing event. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with a concluded event in response to operation 812 determining that the collection is associated with the concluded event. The collection annotation data may at least associate the collection with the set of highlight media content items determined by operation 814. For some embodiments, operation 816 is similar to operation 708 of the method 700 described above with respect to
At operation 818, the collection provider module 622 provides the collection of media content items, generated by operation 816, to a client device (e.g., the client device 102) for access by a user at the client device. For some embodiments, operation 818 is similar to operation 710 of the method 700 described above with respect to
In the example architecture of
The operating system 902 may manage hardware resources and provide common services. The operating system 902 may include, for example, a kernel 922, services 924 and drivers 926. The kernel 922 may act as an abstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers. For example, the kernel 922 may be responsible for memory management, processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management, networking, security settings, and so on. The services 924 may provide other common services for the other software layers. The drivers 926 are responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware. For instance, the drivers 926 include display drivers, camera drivers, Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers, audio drivers, power management drivers, and so forth, depending on the hardware configuration.
The libraries 920 provide a common infrastructure that is used by the applications 916 or other components or layers. The libraries 920 provide functionality that allows other software components to perform tasks in an easier fashion than to interface directly with the underlying operating system 902 functionality (e.g., kernel 922, services 924, or drivers 926). The libraries 920 may include system libraries 944 (e.g., C standard library) that may provide functions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions, mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 920 may include API libraries 946 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation of various media formats such as MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphics libraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework that may be used to render 2D and 3D graphic content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite that may provide various relational database functions), web libraries (e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsing functionality), and the like. The libraries 920 may also include a wide variety of other libraries 948 to provide many other APIs to the applications 916 and other software components/modules.
The frameworks/middleware 918 (also sometimes referred to as middleware) provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may be used by the applications 916 or other software components/modules. For example, the frameworks/middleware 918 may provide various graphic user interface (GUI) functions, high-level resource management, high-level location services, and so forth. The frameworks/middleware 918 may provide a broad spectrum of other APIs that may be used by the applications 916 or other software components/modules, some of which may be specific to a particular operating system 902 or platform.
The applications 916 include built-in applications 938 or third-party applications 940. Examples of representative built-in applications 938 may include, but are not limited to, a contacts application, a browser application, a book reader application, a location application, a media application, a messaging application, or a game application. Third-party applications 940 may include an application developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software development kit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform, and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such as IOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. The third-party applications 940 may invoke the API calls 908 provided by the mobile operating system (such as operating system 902) to facilitate functionality described herein.
The applications 916 may use built-in operating system functions (e.g., kernel 922, services 924, or drivers 926), libraries 920, and frameworks/middleware 918 to create user interfaces to interact with users of the system. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systems, interactions with a user may occur through a presentation layer, such as presentation layer 914. In these systems, the application/component “logic” can be separated from the aspects of the application/component that interact with a user.
The machine 1000 may include processors 1004, memory/storage 1006, and I/O components 1018, which may be configured to communicate with each other such as via a bus 1002. The memory/storage 1006 may include a memory 1014, such as a main memory, or other memory storage, and a storage unit 1016, both accessible to the processors 1004 such as via the bus 1002. The storage unit 1016 and memory 1014 store the instructions 1010 embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1010 may also reside, completely or partially, within the memory 1014, within the storage unit 1016, within at least one of the processors 1004 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), or any suitable combination thereof, during execution thereof by the machine 1000. Accordingly, the memory 1014, the storage unit 1016, and the memory of processors 1004 are examples of machine-readable media.
The I/O components 1018 may include a wide variety of components to receive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information, exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/O components 1018 that are included in a particular machine 1000 will depend on the type of machine. For example, portable machines such as mobile phones will likely include a touch input device or other such input mechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely not include such a touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 1018 may include many other components that are not shown in
In further embodiments, the I/O components 1018 may include biometric components 1030, motion components 1034, environmental components 1036, or position components 1038, among a wide array of other components. For example, the biometric components 1030 may include components to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facial expressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measure biosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voice identification, retinal identification, facial identification, fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram based identification), and the like. The motion components 1034 may include acceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensor components, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth. The environmental components 1036 may include, for example, illumination sensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components (e.g., one or more thermometer that detect ambient temperature), humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g., barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphones that detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g., infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gas detection sensors to detect concentrations of hazardous gases for safety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other components that may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding to a surrounding physical environment. The position components 1038 may include location sensor components (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may be derived), orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.
Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies. The I/O components 1018 may include communication components 1040 operable to couple the machine 1000 to a network 1032 or devices 1020 via coupling 1022 and coupling 1024 respectively. For example, the communication components 1040 may include a network interface component or other suitable device to interface with the network 1032. In further examples, communication components 1040 may include wired communication components, wireless communication components, cellular communication components, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components to provide communication via other modalities. The devices 1020 may be another machine or any of a wide variety of peripheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)).
Moreover, the communication components 1040 may detect identifiers or include components operable to detect identifiers. For example, the communication components 1040 may include Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components, optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detect one-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code, multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Aztec code, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2D bar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components (e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, a variety of information may be derived via the communication components 1040, such as, location via Internet Protocol (IP) geo-location, location via Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting a NFC beacon signal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.
As used herein, “ephemeral message” can refer to a message (e.g., message item) that is accessible for a time-limited duration (e.g., maximum of 10 seconds). An ephemeral message may comprise a text content, image content, audio content, video content and the like. The access time for the ephemeral message may be set by the message sender or, alternatively, the access time may be a default setting or a setting specified by the recipient. Regardless of the setting technique, an ephemeral message is transitory. A message duration parameter associated with an ephemeral message may provide a value that determines the amount of time that the ephemeral message can be displayed or accessed by a receiving user of the ephemeral message. An ephemeral message may be accessed or displayed using a messaging client software application capable of receiving and displaying content of the ephemeral message, such as an ephemeral messaging application.
As also used herein, “ephemeral message story” can refer to a collection of ephemeral message content items that is accessible for a time-limited duration, similar to an ephemeral message. An ephemeral message story may be sent from one user to another, and may be accessed or displayed using a messaging client software application capable of receiving and displaying the collection of ephemeral message content items, such as an ephemeral messaging application.
Throughout this specification, plural instances may implement components, operations, or structures described as a single instance. Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustrated and described as separate operations, one or more of the individual operations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that the operations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures and functionality presented as separate components in example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of the subject matter herein.
Although an overview of the inventive subject matter has been described with reference to specific embodiments, various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader scope of embodiments of the present disclosure.
The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed. Other embodiments may be used and derived therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. The detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of various embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
As used herein, modules may constitute software modules (e.g., code stored or otherwise embodied in a machine-readable medium or in a transmission medium), hardware modules, or any suitable combination thereof. A “hardware module” is a tangible (e.g., non-transitory) physical component (e.g., a set of one or more processors) capable of performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various embodiments, one or more computer systems or one or more hardware modules thereof may be configured by software (e.g., an application or portion thereof) as a hardware module that operates to perform operations described herein for that module.
In some embodiments, a hardware module may be implemented electronically. For example, a hardware module may include dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured to perform certain operations. A hardware module may be or include a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an ASIC. A hardware module may also include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. As an example, a hardware module may include software encompassed within a CPU or other programmable processor.
Considering embodiments in which hardware modules are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the hardware modules need not be configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where a hardware module includes a CPU configured by software to become a special-purpose processor, the CPU may be configured as respectively different special-purpose processors (e.g., each included in a different hardware module) at different times. Software (e.g., a software module) may accordingly configure one or more processors, for example, to become or otherwise constitute a particular hardware module at one instance of time and to become or otherwise constitute a different hardware module at a different instance of time.
Hardware modules can provide information to, and receive information from, other hardware modules. Accordingly, described hardware modules may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multiple hardware modules exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over suitable circuits and buses) between or among two or more of the hardware modules. In embodiments in which multiple hardware modules are configured or instantiated at different times, communications between such hardware modules may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple hardware modules have access. For example, one hardware module may perform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memory (e.g., a memory device) to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardware module may then, at a later time, access the memory to retrieve and process the stored output. Hardware modules may also initiate communications with input or output devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection of information from a computing resource).
The various operations of example methods described herein may be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors that are temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured to perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanently configured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented modules that operate to perform one or more operations or functions described herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented module” refers to a hardware module in which the hardware includes one or more processors. Accordingly, the operations described herein may be at least partially processor-implemented, hardware-implemented, or both, since a processor is an example of hardware, and at least some operations within any one or more of the methods discussed herein may be performed by one or more processor-implemented modules, hardware-implemented modules, or any suitable combination thereof.
As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive or exclusive sense. The terms “a” or “an” should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more,” or the like. The use of words and phrases such as “one or more,” “at least,” “but not limited to,” or other like phrases shall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or required in instances where such broadening phrases may be absent.
Boundaries between various resources, operations, modules, engines, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustrated in a context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality are envisioned and may fall within a scope of various embodiments of the present disclosure. In general, structures and functionality presented as separate resources in the example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or resource. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single resource may be implemented as separate resources. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall within a scope of embodiments of the present disclosure as represented by the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
The description above includes systems, methods, devices, instructions, and computer media (e.g., computing machine program products) that embody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide an understanding of various embodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In general, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques are not necessarily shown in detail.
This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priority of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/479,383, filed Sep. 20, 2021, which is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priority of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/941,743, filed Mar. 30, 2018, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17479383 | Sep 2021 | US |
| Child | 18677674 | US | |
| Parent | 15941743 | Mar 2018 | US |
| Child | 17479383 | US |
