Patent Grant
10771932
This disclosure generally relates to data communication.
When two computing devices are connected to a network, data may be transmitted between the two devices over the network using one or more suitable network protocols. A network can be the Internet, a corporate intranet, a virtual private network, a local area network, a wireless local area network, a cellular network, a wide area network, a metropolitan area network, or a combination of two or more such networks.
A social networking system, such as a social networking website, enables its users to interact with it and with each other through the system. The social networking system may create and store a record, often referred to as a user profile, in connection with the a user. The user profile may include a user's demographic information, communication channel information, and personal interests. The social networking system may also create and store a record of a user's relationships with other users in the social networking system (e.g., social graph), as well as provide services (e.g., wall-posts, photo-sharing, event organization, messaging, games, or advertisements) to facilitate social interaction between users in the social networking system. The social networking system may transmit contents and messages related to its services to a user's client device over a network.
In one embodiment, factors or operating conditions related to the energy consumption of a mobile device are determined locally at the mobile device. These factors or conditions may include the device's battery level, the activity level of a user of the device, the signal strength at the device, or the time of day. A pre-determined device state that corresponds to these factors or operating conditions is identified. For example, the device state may be a napping mode (where notifications are pushed to the device from a server every few minutes), a sleep mode (where notifications are only sent when a user requests them), or a trickle mode (where notifications are pushed in real-time). Based on this pre-determined device state, an action related to energy consumption by the mobile device is taken. For example, the brightness of the display of the mobile device may be changed, a vibration mode of the mobile device may be enabled or disabled, or a volume level may be adjusted. The mobile device may wake from the napping or sleep modes in some embodiments only for notifications or messages of a certain type or from a certain source. Additionally, the user of the mobile device may customize settings related to the pre-determined device states.
A social network, in general, is a social structure made up of entities, such as individuals or organizations, that are connected by one or more types of interdependency or relationships, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge, or prestige. A social-networking system may create and store a record in connection with a user and may also create and store a record of a user's relationships with other users in the social-networking system (e.g., in the form of a social graph). Some social-networking systems exist on the Internet in the form of social-networking websites. Such social-networking websites enable their members, who are commonly referred to as website users, to perform various social activities. For example, the social-networking website enables its users to communicate with their friends via emails, instant messages, or blog postings, organize social events, share photos, receive news of their friends or interesting events, play games, organize events, etc.
In particular embodiments, entities of a social network (including, for example, individuals, organizations, locations, or events) may have associated web pages within a social-networking website. Each of these web pages may contain information related to its associated entity. For example, a web page for a user of the social-networking system or website, which may be referred to as a user profile page, may contain information about the user including, for example photographs of the user, information about the user's interests, or the user's academic or professional background. Similarly, the profile page for an event, a location, or an organization may contain information about the event (e.g., invitees, time, and place of the event), the location (e.g., pictures of the location or a map of the location), or the organization (e.g., information about the organization and its members or the contact information of the organization). The profile page for a user or other entity may be accessible to other users or entities of the social-networking system depending, for example, on privacy settings for the profile page. For example, the social-networking system may allow users to post information or messages (such as, for example, user status, comments, photographs, or multimedia files) known as “posts” on another user or entity's profile page in a section of the page known as a “wall.” In particular embodiments, the wall of a profile page of an entity may be a pre-determined section of a profile page that is accessible to other entities of the social network. In particular embodiments, the wall of a profile page may be organized in a dynamically arranged, chronological manner, and this type of wall may be referred to as a “timeline” for an entity of the social network. The social networking system may transmit contents and messages related to its services to a user's client device over a network.
In data communication, a server may transmit one or more messages to a client device over a computer network. For example, a server system running email exchange software may transmit via the Internet email messages to a user's client device (e.g., a desktop computer, a mobile phone, or a tablet computer). The user can access the email messages received at the client device by using an email program running on the mobile device.
Network cloud 121 generally represents a network or collection of networks (such as the Internet, a corporate intranet, a virtual private network, a local area network, a wireless local area network, a cellular network, a wide area network, a metropolitan area network, or a combination of two or more such networks) over which server 120 may communicate with mobile device 122.
Mobile device 122 is generally a portable computer or computing device including functionality for communicating (e.g., remotely) over a network. For example, mobile device 122 can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a handheld game console, an electronic book reader, or any other suitable portable device. Mobile device 122 may execute one or more client applications, such as a web browser or a special-purpose client application, to access and view content and messages transmitted from server 120 over network cloud 121. In particular embodiments, mobile device 122 may connect to network cloud 121 via a base station 131 of a cellular network (e.g., a Global System for Mobile Communications or GSM cellular network or a Long Term Evolution or LTE network). In particular embodiments, mobile device 122 may connect to network cloud 121 via a wireless access point 132 of a WI-FI network.
A mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone, a tablet computer) often runs solely on its battery. Meanwhile, receiving messages over a wireless network can decrease (e.g., by the mobile device's wireless transceiver unit) a substantial amount of energy stored in the mobile device's battery. With an abundance of messages (such as described above) available for a user to consume at the user's mobile device, it is desirable to manage message transmission to the user's mobile device in order to conserve the mobile device's battery power. Particular embodiments herein describe methods of managing transmitting messages to a user's mobile device. More specifically, particular embodiments manage transmitting messages to a user's mobile device based on the user's interaction with the mobile device. For example, particular embodiments can transmit one or more messages in real-time to a user's mobile device if the user is actively interacting with the mobile device (e.g., the user is accessing one or more applications running on the mobile device). For example, particular embodiments can transmit one or more messages to the user's mobile device only as the user requests, if the user is not actively interacting with the mobile device while the mobile device is not near the user (e.g., the user may be asleep).
A mobile device may have one or more operating conditions associated with it. These operating conditions may include, for example and without limitation, user interface modes and device operating modes, and the operating conditions may relate to energy consumption of the mobile device. In particular embodiments, these operating conditions may be dynamic or changing, e.g., with the energy consumption of the mobile device.
For example, the mode manager process may determine whether the user is interacting with a message reader application running on the mobile device. For example, the mode manager process may determine whether the user is interacting with an application other than a message reader on the mobile device. A message reader can be a special-purpose client application. A message reader can also be a web browser displaying one or more structured documents (e.g., a web page, an iFrame) for accessing one or more messages (e.g., email web interface or social networking web user interface). In particular embodiments, the mode manager process may determine a trickle notification mode (310) if the current user interface mode is that the user is interacting with a message reader application running on the mobile device (301) or that the user is interacting with an application other than a message reader on the mobile device (302), as illustrated in
In particular embodiments, the mode manager process may determine a napping notification mode based on a current user interface mode indicating that the user is not actively interacting with the mobile device while the mobile device is near the user—e.g., the mobile device can be in the user's pocket while the user walks or drives a car. The mode manager process may determine that the user is not interacting with the mobile device if no application running on the mobile device receives user input (e.g., a user touch on a touch-sensitive portion of the mobile device) or user input focus within a pre-determined time duration (e.g., within the last 3 minutes). In other embodiments, the mode manager process may determine that the user is not interacting with the mobile device if the mobile device's display is in a lower-power or lower-usage state (e.g., the display is powered down, or a screen saver or a screen lock program is active). The mode manager can determine that the mobile device is near the user if the mobile device is in motion (e.g., indicating that the user is carrying the mobile device). The mode manager process can determine whether the mobile device is in motion by accessing a device driver of an accelerometer of the mobile device.
In particular embodiments, the mode manager process may determine a napping notification mode (311) if the user is not interacting with the mobile device while the mobile device is in motion (303), as illustrated in
In particular embodiments, the mode manager process may determine a sleep notification mode based on a current user interface mode indicating that the user is not actively interacting with the mobile device while the mobile device is stationary for a pre-determined time duration (e.g., the mobile device is stationary for the last 15 minutes). For example, the user may be asleep. As described earlier, the mode manager process can determine that the user is not interacting with the mobile device if no application running on the mobile device receives user input (e.g., a user touch on a touch-sensitive portion of the mobile device) or user input focus within a pre-determined time duration. The mode manager process can also determine that the user is not interacting with the mobile device if the mobile device's display is in a lower-power or lower-usage state. The mode manager process can determine whether the mobile device is stationary or idle by accessing a device driver of an accelerometer of the mobile device.
In particular embodiments, the mode manager process may determine a sleep notification mode (312) if the user is not interacting with the mobile device while the mobile device is stationary (304), as illustrated in
The mode manager process may determine notification modes based on different combinations of user interface modes, device operating modes, or any other type of operating conditions of the mobile device including, for example, any sensory input data available to the mobile device. The mode manager process may determine operating conditions or notification modes in real time, and may determine them locally at the mobile device. Additionally, the notification modes of the mobile device may be dynamic or changing. For example, the mode manager process may determine a napping notification mode if the user is interacting with an application other than a message reader application on the mobile device (302), or if the user is not interacting with the mobile device while the mobile device is in motion (303). The mode manager process may determine a trickle notification mode if the user is interacting with a message reader application running on the mobile device (301), if the user is interacting with any other application on the mobile device (302), or if the device has a high battery level or a strong cellular signal. The mode manager process may determine a sleep notification mode if the user is not interacting with the mobile device while the mobile device is stationary (304) or in motion (303).
Furthermore, the mode manager process may determine a notification mode based on the mobile device's device operating mode, including, for example, the device's power state. For example, the mode manager process can access a device driver for the mobile device's battery and determine that the battery level is low (e.g., less than 20% charged). In order to conserve battery energy, mode manager process may determine a sleep notification mode (312) if the battery level is low (305), as illustrated in
The mode manager process may also determine a notification mode based on the mobile device's current radio network state, another example of a device operating mode of the mobile device. For example, the mode manager process can access a device driver of the mobile device's wireless communication subsystem and determine a signal strength of the current radio network connection (e.g., 4 out of 5 bars). For example, a radio network connection with a weak signal strength (e.g., 1 out of 5 bars) may not be efficient (thus consuming more energy) in data communication due to packet loss. The mode manager process may determine a sleep notification mode (312) if the current radio network connection's signal strength is low (306), as illustrated in
The mode manager process may also determine a notification mode based on sensor data available to the mobile device, another example of a device operating mode of the mobile device. As an example, sensor data may be gathered from one or more sensors of sensor subsystems 918 at the mobile device. These sensors may include, by way of example and without limitation, light sensors (e.g., to determine ambient light levels), proximity sensors (e.g., to determine the presence of nearby objects), gyroscopes (e.g., to determine orientation), accelerometers (e.g., to determine speed or acceleration), altimeters (e.g., to determine altitude positioning), motion sensors (e.g., to determine motion), temperature sensors (e.g., to measure ambient temperature), biometric sensors (e.g., for fingerprint reading), or GPS sensors (e.g., for location positioning). For example, if the mobile device is determined based on accelerometer measurements to be traveling at 60 miles per hour and also, based on GPS sensor measurements, to be traveling along a highway route, the mode manager process may determine a napping notification mode (311), as a user of the mobile device may likely be driving. As another example, if the ambient light level is low and the GPS sensor measurements indicate that the mobile device is located at the home of a user of the mobile device, the mode manager process may determine a sleep notification mode (312), as a user of the mobile device may likely be sleeping. The mode manager process may also determine a notification mode based on a combination of user interface modes or device operating modes (e.g., determined from sensor data).
The mode manager process may also determine a notification mode based on the time of day (e.g., at the location of the mobile device), another example of a device operating mode of the mobile device. For example, if the time of day is between midnight and 5 a.m., the mode manager process may determine a sleep notification mode (312), as a user of the mobile device may likely be asleep. As another example, if the time of day is between 10 p.m. and midnight, the mode manager process may determine a napping notification mode (311), as a user of the mobile device may not be sleeping but may not be checking his or her mobile device as frequently. The mode manager process may also determine a notification mode based on a combination of user interface modes or device operating modes. As another example, if the time of day is between midnight and 5 a.m. and the battery level is high, the mode manager process may determine a napping notification mode (311).
Particular embodiments may further change the mobile device's radio network state based on a notification mode. For didactic purposes,
In particular embodiments, the mode manager process may determine a second radio network state based on the notification mode. In particular embodiments, the mode manager process may transmit to a cellular base station a request for the second radio network state, causing the base station to transition a connection between the mobile device and the cellular base station to the second radio network state. For example, the mode manager process may determine a sleep notification mode (312) based on a user interface mode (304), as illustrated in
In particular embodiments, the mode manager process may determine an action for the mobile device to take based on the device's operating conditions including operating mode, notification mode, or any combination of the two. As an example, the mode manager process may determine to change a brightness of a display of the mobile device (e.g., lower the brightness to lower energy consumption) if, for example, the battery level is low or if the device is in a napping notification mode. The mode manager process may determine to change a threshold idle time before turning off the display of the mobile device (e.g., increase the threshold idle time) if, for example, the battery level is high or if the device is in a trickle notification mode. The mode manager process may determine to enable or disable a vibrator of the mobile device. For example, if the device is in a trickle notification mode and the battery level is low, the vibrator may be disabled (to lower energy consumption by the vibrator), but if the device is in a napping notification mode and the battery level is high, the vibrator may be enabled. Similarly, the mode manager process may determine to change a volume level of the mobile device to decrease or allow more energy consumption by the mobile device. For example, if the device is in a trickle notification mode and the battery level is low, the volume level may be lowered. The mode manager process may determine to enable or disable one or more sounds of the mobile device. For example, if the battery level is low, certain ringtones (e.g., entire clips of songs that consume larger amounts of energy) may be disabled. In particular embodiments, the action for the mobile device to take may include waking the mobile device from a sleep or napping notification mode, entering a trickle notification mode, or changing from one notification mode to another, generally.
In particular embodiments, a user of the mobile device may customize what types of notification modes are entered or what types of actions are taken at the mobile device. The user may customize what types and what levels of operating conditions (e.g., user interface modes or device operating modes) lead the mobile device to enter a particular notification mode or take a particular actions. As an example, a user may set a custom preference that any time the battery level is at or below 60% of the full battery charge, the mobile device enters a napping notification mode. As another example, a user may set a custom preference that if the user is not interacting with the mobile device while the mobile device is in motion (e.g., in the user's pocket), the display of the mobile device is turned off after three seconds (e.g., to save energy consumption). User customization may occur via settings on the mobile device itself (e.g., via a mobile device interface) or via settings on a server of a social-networking website (e.g., via a browser interface).
As described earlier, particular embodiments may determine a notification mode for a mobile device based on the mobile device's user interface mode, device operating mode, or any combination of these modes. Particular embodiments may transmit to a server a message indicating the notification mode, causing the server to transmit messages to the mobile device based on the notification mode. For example, the server can transmit messages to the mobile device in real-time based on if the notification mode is a trickle notification mode. For example, the server can transmit messages to the mobile device every 10 minutes if the notification mode is a napping notification mode. In addition to transmitting outgoing messages to the mobile device based on the notification mode, particular embodiments may transmit outgoing messages to the mobile device further based on a ranking of the outgoing messages, as illustrated in
In particular embodiments, server 120 may receive from the user's mobile device a message comprising a notification mode (e.g., a trickle notification mode or a napping notification mode) of the mobile device (401). In particular embodiments, server 120 may receive from the user's mobile device a message comprising the mobile device's user interface mode, health, or operating mode, such as the battery life, time of day, signal strength, wireless network availability (WiFi or 3G/4G), whether or not the device is charging, etc., and server 120 may determine a notification mode for the mobile device. In particular embodiments, the mobile device may transmit the factors that determine the notification mode of the mobile device, for example variables 301-306, to server 120. In particular embodiments, server 120 determines the notification mode of the mobile device, and transmits an instruction to the mobile device to adjust its notification mode. In particular embodiments, the mobile device determines its own notification mode but still transmits information (e.g., a flag) regarding its notification mode, system health, or user interface mode to server 120.
The message may further comprise an identifier (e.g., a user name, a phone number, an email address) of the user. In response to the message, a server-side process running on server 120 may access one or more message services 112 indicating one or more outgoing messages for the user (402). The server-side process may access one or more message services 112 for information for the one or more outgoing messages. For example, information for an outgoing message may comprise one or more identifiers (e.g., a user name, a phone number, an email address) of the outgoing message's originator.
In particular embodiments, the server-side process may determine a value for each of the one or more outgoing messages (403). In particular embodiments, the server-side process may determine a value for each of the one or more outgoing messages based on the content of each of the one or more outgoing messages. For example, the server-side process may assign a higher value to a message having content indicating urgency (e.g., the words “urgent,” “important,” or “emergency”). In particular embodiments, the server-side process may determine a value for each of the one or more outgoing messages based on a location of the mobile device (e.g., determined from a GPS sensor on the mobile device) or other sensor data of the mobile device. For example, if the server-side process receives location information from the mobile device (e.g., GPS coordinates) indicating the mobile device is near a restaurant where the friend of a user of the mobile device is currently located (e.g., checked in), an outgoing message indicating the location of the friend may be assigned a higher value (due to the user's proximity to the restaurant and friend) than it might otherwise be assigned. As described further below, this higher value may allow the outgoing message indicating the location of the friend to be delivered to the mobile device (due to the user's proximity to the restaurant and friend) when it might otherwise have not been immediately delivered. In particular embodiments, the server-side process may determine a value for each of the one or more outgoing messages based on an affinity or social relevancy between each of the one or more outgoing messages and the user—i.e., based on an affinity between each outgoing message's originator and the user. Outgoing messages such as notifications of posts in specific groups relevant to the user, replies to the user's own posts, or replies to the user's own comments on a post may all be scored using affinity. For example, the server-side process may assign each of the one or more outgoing messages an affinity score. For example, the server-side process can assign an affinity score of 1.0 to an outgoing message if the outgoing message's originator is the user's immediate family member (e.g., parent, sibling), or an affinity score of 0.9 if the outgoing message's originator frequently communicates with the user, or an affinity score of 0.7 if the outgoing message's originator is the user's first-degree social contact in a social graph of a social networking system. Interaction between users on a social networking system, such as chats, wall posts, emails, and the like, can also be used in scoring affinities between users of the social networking system. Methods of measuring affinity scoring are described later.
Particular embodiments may transmit more outgoing messages to the mobile device if the user is interacting with the mobile device, while transmitting fewer outgoing messages to the mobile device if the user is not actively interacting with the mobile device. In particular embodiments, the server-side process may transmit at least one outgoing message to the mobile device based on the notification mode and respective values of the one or more outgoing messages (404). For example, in response to a message from the mobile device indicating a trickle notification mode (e.g., the user is interacting with the mobile device), the server-side process can select outgoing messages with affinity scores greater than a pre-determined threshold (e.g., 0.4), and transmit the selected outgoing messages to the mobile device. In contrast, for example, in response to a message from the mobile device indicating a napping notification mode (e.g., the user is not interacting with the mobile device while the mobile device is in motion), the server-side process can select only high-affinity outgoing messages (e.g., messages most relevant to the user) by using a higher threshold (e.g., 0.8), and then transmit the selected high-affinity outgoing messages to the mobile device. In particular embodiments, the mobile device may only be responsive (e.g., may only wake up from a napping or sleep notification mode) to messages of a certain type or messages from a certain source. This may be managed by the mode manager process running on the mobile device. In particular embodiments, this may be accomplished via the setting of pre-determined thresholds for affinity scores (e.g., either by the server-side process or by the mobile device and communicated to the server-side process). For example, if the mobile device will only wake up from a sleep or napping notification mode for a message from an immediate family member or for a message with content indicating urgency, the pre-determined threshold for transmitting an outgoing message to the mobile device (and waking the mobile device) may be 1.0, which may be a high affinity score.
In addition to transmitting to the mobile device outgoing messages with the highest affinity scores, particular embodiments may store one or more remaining outgoing messages in a queue and transmit them to the mobile device at a later time. In particular embodiments, the server-side process may select and store in a queue one or more of the one or more outgoing messages based on respective values of the one or more outgoing messages and the notification mode. For example, the server-side process can select outgoing messages with affinity scores of less than 0.4 and store the selected message in a queue if the notification mode is a trickle notification mode. For example, the server-side process can select outgoing messages with affinity scores of less than 0.8 and store the selected messages in a queue if the notification mode is a napping notification mode.
The server-side process may transmit at least one of the queued outgoing messages to the mobile device at a later time. For example, the server-side process may transmit at least one queued outgoing message to the mobile device at a pre-determined time interval (e.g., every 30 minutes). For example, the server-side process may transmit at least one queued outgoing message to the mobile device when a size of the queue is greater than a pre-determined threshold (e.g., when the queue has more than 20 queued messages). For example, the server-side process may transmit at least one queued message to the mobile device when a real-time outgoing message (e.g., a phone call) is transmitted to the mobile device. For example, the server-side process may transmit at least one queued outgoing message to the mobile device when a high affinity outgoing message (e.g., a message with an affinity score greater than 0.8) is transmitted to the mobile device. That is, the server-side process can piggy-back at least one queued outgoing message with another real-time or high-affinity outgoing message.
At Step 406, the one or more server-side processes on server 120 assign a score to the outgoing message. As previously disclosed, the score may be assigned based on an affinity score. In particular embodiments, the affinity score may be a predictor of the relative degree of interest the user has in such a message. In such embodiments, a predictor function may be a machine learning algorithm based on the previous historical engagement of the user with messages of the same type. Message affinity scoring is described in greater detail with reference to
At Step 407, the one or more server-side processes on server 120 add the newly scored message to an outgoing message queue and add the score to a running sum of all the message scores in the message queue. Thus the total queue score is incremented by the score calculated for the particular message in Step 407.
At Step 408, the one or more server-side processes on server 120 determine whether the sum of all message scores in the outgoing message queue exceeds a predetermined threshold. The threshold may be adjusted in real-time by the one or more server-side processes based on the notification mode message, or alternatively, the indication of system health, received from the mobile device. In particular embodiments, higher power consumption notification modes may translate to a “healthier” device, and the threshold value may be decreased. For example, if the mobile device reports that it has full battery, is plugged in, and is connected to a WiFi network, the threshold may be set to zero, resulting in the server-side processes on server 120 pushing messages to the mobile device substantially in real-time. At the other extreme, if the mobile device reports that it has under 10% battery life and is on the edge of a 3G network, the one or more server-side processes on server 120 may increase the threshold to an extremely high number, for example, 100. In particular embodiments, reception of a message comprising a notification mode or mobile device status triggers an interrupt which updates the threshold and forces the process of
If the one or more server-side processes on server 120 determine at Step 408 that the sum of the scores in the outgoing message queue exceeds the threshold value, it transmits all the messages in the outgoing message queue to the mobile device, empties the queue, and clears the sum. If the sum of the message scores in the outgoing message queue fails to exceed the threshold in Step 408, the process returns to Step 405, where it waits the reception of another outgoing message to the mobile device.
At Step 410, one or more server-side processes on server 120 receive an outgoing message destined for a mobile device. At Step 411, the server-side processes on server 120 calculate a timeout for the message. In particular embodiments, the timeout of a message is inversely proportional to the determined importance, and inversely related to the relative health or notification mode of the mobile device. For example, certain messages may be so important that their timeout value may be zero (that is, they are transmitted to the user immediately and substantially in real-time). For example, an instant message marked “urgent” may have a timeout value of zero. At the other extreme, an extremely low value status message from a distant friend may have an infinite timeout value; the message will never be sent on its own. In particular embodiments, the timeout value for each outgoing message may be determined by affinity scoring as described below, with the timeout inversely related to the affinity of the message. The timeout values for each individual message are also inversely related to the device health or notification mode. Thus, if the device is in a promiscuous (high message) notification mode, such as DCH mode, the timeout values for individual messages are shortened by a predetermined factor. Conversely, if the mobile device is in a low message transmission mode, or reports poor health (again, for didactic purposes, low battery life or low network connectivity), the timeout period for each message may be multiplied by a predetermined scale factor greater than 1. This disclosure contemplates any suitable method of calculating timeouts for individual outgoing messages.
At Step 412, the outgoing message is stored in a message queue. In particular embodiments, the one or more server-side processes on server 120 maintain a separate timer for each of the outgoing messages in the outgoing message queue. In particular embodiments, the server-side process maintains a single system timer, and stores a countdown value and start time for each message in the outgoing message queue. This disclosure contemplates any suitable method of determining whether any individual outgoing message has timed out.
At Step 413, the one or more server-side processes on server 120 determine whether any message in the outgoing message queue has timed out. In particular embodiments, the timeout of any message in the outgoing message queue triggers an interrupt process that immediately branches the method of
At Step 414, if any of the messages in the outgoing message queue times out, the one or more server-side processes in server 120 transmit all the messages in the outgoing message queue to the mobile device and empty the queue. The process then repeats itself with the reception of the next outgoing message destined for the mobile device. The aforementioned methods merely illustrate two example server-side message transmission algorithms. This disclosure contemplates other methods based on message importance, user affinity to the message, device transmission mode, or device health. As a general principle, the mobile device is aware of the resource cost of receiving a message, based on the various factors described with reference to
In one embodiment, a process running in a social networking environment requests a measure of affinity for a particular user from a module that implements an affinity function. The module, in one implementation, computes the requested measure of affinity by combining (e.g., adding) a weighted set of predictor functions, where each predictor function predicts whether the user will perform a different action. The weights may be provided by the process that requests the measure of affinity, which allows the requesting process to weight the predictor functions differently. In this sense, the affinity function is tunable by the requesting process for its own purpose. In one implementation, affinities may be computed for the purposes of computing an affinity score of an outgoing message to an intended recipient.
The predictor functions may predict whether a user will perform a particular action based on the user's interest in the action. For example, a predictor function may be derived based on a user's historical activity (such as interacting with other users utilizing the social networking system functionality discussed above, for example). Additionally, the predictor function may include a decay factor that causes the strength of the signal provided by the user's historical activity to decay with time. The predictor functions may predict any number of actions, which may be within or outside of the social networking system. For example, these actions may include various types of a user's communications, such as messages, posting of content, and commenting on content; various types of a user's observation actions, such as viewing profiles of other connections and viewing photos and content posted by other connections; and various types of coincidence information about two or more users, such as being tagged in the same photograph, checked in at the same location, and attending the same event. A predictor function may be determined using a machine learning algorithms trained on historical activity and past user responses or data farmed from users by exposing them to various options and measuring responses.
To predict the likely actions a user may take in a given situation, any process on the social networking system or outside may request a measure of affinity for a user by providing a set of weights. The measure of affinity may reflect the user's interest in other users, content, actions, advertisements, or any other objects in the social networking system. The weights may be binary or, more generally, any real number. In one implementation, messages intended for a communications device of a subject user that are transmitted or intermediated by the social networking system, for example, may be processed to compute an affinity between the subject user and the message. The affinity value can be appended to the message prior to transmission to the communications device. In other implementations, a process hosted on the communications device may access the affinity module to request the measure of affinity. In some implementations, the communications device may request affinities between the subject user of the communications device and one or more other users identified in a contacts database of the subject user (stored locally on the communications device or remotely on the social networking system). Revised affinity values can be obtained during subsequent synchronization processes. Communications device may use these affinity values for messages from the respective users. In other implementations, the communications device may monitor interactions locally and compute affinity values locally.
The weights 605 of the affinity function enable it to be used by various processes in the social networking system environment for different purposes. For example, in a process that provides advertisements with social endorsements from a viewer's friends, an ad algorithm may use the measure of affinity 615 function to determine which of a user's connections to mention in the social endorsement or what type of actions to mention in the endorsement. The measure of affinity 615 may then be based on those predictor functions 610 that show how interested the user is in viewing the content posted by another user as well as one or more predictor functions 610 that show how interested the user is in various actions that may be mentioned in the social endorsement. The ad algorithm would thus provide relatively large weights for these predictor functions 610 so that the resulting measure of affinity would more accurately determine which social endorsements would be more interesting to the viewing user. The ad algorithm would then select the social endorsement using the resulting measure of affinity, thereby increasing the likelihood of conversion of the advertisement.
As a second example, in a process for a messaging application that intermediates communications between users, a social algorithm may use the measure of affinity 615 function to determine what level of interest a user may have in a message sent by a particular sending user. The measure of affinity 615 for this purpose may be based on predictor functions 610 that show how interested the user is in viewing the content posted by the user's connections and/or how often the users send messages to one another in general, as well as one or more predictor functions 610 that show how interested the user is posting or accessing different types of messages. Accordingly, the social algorithm would weight these predictor functions 610 relatively high so that the resulting measure of affinity would accurately determine which messages would be more interesting to the viewing user. Because of the highly tunable nature of the affinity function, enabled by the weighted predictor functions 610, it can be used for a number of different purposes.
The action store 740 stores actions that have been performed by the users of the social networking system 700, along with an indication of the time associated with those actions and references to any objects related to the actions. Additionally, the action store 740 may store statistics for specified categories of actions. For example, for a given user the action store 740 may contain the number of wall posts in 30 days by a user, messages sent by the user, number of photos posted by the user in 30 days and number of distinct users that received the user's comments in 30 days. For a given connection between two users, user A and user B, the action store 740 may contain actions such as the number of profile page views from A to B, the number of photo page views from A to B, the number of messages from A to B, and the number of times A and B were tagged in the same photo, and these actions may be associated with a timestamp or may be filtered by a cutoff (e.g., 24 hours, 90 days, etc.). The actions recorded in the action store 740 may be farmed actions, which are performed by a user in response to the social networking system 700 providing suggested choices of actions to the user.
The predictor module 720 is responsible for computing a set predictor functions 610, which predict whether a user will perform a set of corresponding actions. As discussed above, each predictor function 610 may be representative of a user's interest in a particular action associated with the predictor function 610. The historical activity of a user may be used as a signal of a user's future interest in the same activity. In some embodiments, the predictor function 610 is generated using a machine learned algorithm that is trained using a user's historical activity associated with an action. The predictor module 720 thus provides a predictor function 610 for each of a set of actions, where a predictor function 610 may take as an input the a user's historical activity and then outputs a measure of the likelihood that the user will engage in the corresponding activity.
In some embodiments, one or more of the predictor functions 610 may use a decay factor in which the strength of the signal from a user's historical activity decays with time. Moreover, different predictor functions 610 may decay the historical activity at different rates. For example, some types of user activity, like adding a new connection, indicate a more persistent interest than other types of activity that indicate a more ephemeral interest, like commenting on another user's status. Therefore, the predictor functions 610 may decay the effect of historical activity based on an understanding about how that activity may become less relevant over the passage of time. Various decay mechanisms may be used for this purpose. For example, a predictor function 610 may use a mathematical function, such as an exponential decay, to decay the statistics about a user behavior. In another embodiment, the decay is implemented by selecting only those statistics about a user behavior that occurred within a specific window of time, such as 24 hours or 30 days.
In one embodiment, a predictor function 610 is realized as a ratio of two affine functions as shown in equation (1). The numerator and denominator affine functions take statistics of the user's historical activity as inputs.
where
P is the predictor function 610;
ai for i=0, 1, 2, . . . , N are the coefficients in the numerator affine function;
bi for i=0, 1, 2, . . . , M are the coefficients in the denominator affine function; and
xi for i=1, 2, . . . , N+M are the statistics on a user's historical activity related to the predictor function P.
The denominator affine function can represent a normalization of the numerator affine function. For example, the number of comments made by a user may be normalized by, among other statistics, the number of times the user has been active on the social networking system 700. In particular, by altering bi for i=0, 1, 2, . . . , M the normalization pattern can be changed. In some embodiments, some or all of the coefficients, ai for i=0, 1, 2, . . . , N and bi for i=0, 1, 2, . . . , M, are determined through machine learning, which may be implemented by the predictor module 720. In a particular embodiment, a supervised machine learning algorithm is used with the training data obtained through farming, by providing a statistically significant number of users several options and monitoring their response. In another embodiment, the supervised machine learning algorithm is trained entirely based on historical user activity and past responses to choices of actions. The predictor functions 610 may also be non-linear. An example embodiment implements a predictor function 610 for a family where the predictor function 610 includes an ‘if-then’ construct for the members of the family—i.e., the predictor function 610 is computed differently depending on whether it is being computed for the parents or the children.
Some predictor functions 610 in the social networking system 700 may predict actions related to a user's communication in the social networking system 700. The statistics specifically related to communications may include broadcast data and communication data. Broadcast data may include, for example, the number of photos posted by the user in a given time period, the number of posts via applications by the user in a given time period, and any other communication that the user has posted or otherwise distributed to a group of other users. Communication data may include, for example, the number of likes from the user in a given time period, number of comments posted by user in a given time period, and any other information about the user's communication activities.
Similarly, some predictor functions 610 in the social networking system 700 may predict actions related to a user's observation of content in the social networking system 700. The statistics specifically related to observation may include, for example, the number of profile page views by the user of another user in a given time period, the number of photo views by the user in a given time period, the number of views of an advertisement containing a social endorsement in a given time period, and any other activity involving the viewing of content by the user.
Finally, some predictor functions 610 in the social networking system 700 may predict actions related to a user's coincidence with one or more other users of the social networking system. The statistics specifically related to coincidence may include, for example, a rate at which two or more users have been tagged in the same photograph, have checked in at the same location, or have confirmed (e.g., via RSVP) that they will be attending the same event, and any other activity involving an action or object in the social networking system related to multiple users.
The affinity module 760 provides a measure of affinity 615 based on input data about the user from the social networking system 700 using the predictor functions 610. In the embodiment of
A=β0+β1P1+β1P2+ . . . β5PS (2)
where
In particular embodiments, computer system 800 includes a processor 802, memory 804, storage 806, an input/output (I/O) interface 808, a communication interface 810, and a bus 812. In particular embodiments, processor 802 includes hardware for executing instructions, such as those making up a computer program. As an example and not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, processor 802 may retrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internal register, an internal cache, memory 804, or storage 806; decode and execute them; and then write one or more results to an internal register, an internal cache, memory 804, or storage 806. In particular embodiments, processor 802 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, or addresses. In particular embodiments, memory 804 includes main memory for storing instructions for processor 802 to execute or data for processor 802 to operate on. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system 800 may load instructions from storage 806 to memory 804. Processor 802 may then load the instructions from memory 804 to an internal register or internal cache. To execute the instructions, processor 802 may retrieve the instructions from the internal register or internal cache and decode them. During or after execution of the instructions, processor 802 may write one or more results (which may be intermediate or final results) to the internal register or internal cache. Processor 802 may then write one or more of those results to memory 804. One or more memory buses (which may each include an address bus and a data bus) may couple processor 802 to memory 804. Bus 812 may include one or more memory buses, as described below. In particular embodiments, one or more memory management units (MMUs) reside between processor 802 and memory 804 and facilitate accesses to memory 804 requested by processor 802. In particular embodiments, memory 804 includes random access memory (RAM). This RAM may be volatile memory, where appropriate Where appropriate, this RAM may be dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM).
In particular embodiments, storage 806 includes mass storage for data or instructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage 806 may include an HDD, a floppy disk drive, flash memory, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive or a combination of two or more of these. Storage 806 may include removable or non-removable (or fixed) media, where appropriate. Storage 806 may be internal or external to computer system 800, where appropriate. In particular embodiments, storage 806 is non-volatile, solid-state memory. In particular embodiments, storage 806 includes read-only memory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may be mask-programmed ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), or flash memory or a combination of two or more of these.
In particular embodiments, I/O interface 808 includes hardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces for communication between computer system 800 and one or more I/O devices. Computer system 800 may include one or more of these I/O devices, where appropriate. One or more of these I/O devices may enable communication between a person and computer system 800. As an example and not by way of limitation, an I/O device may include a keyboard, microphone, display, touch screen, mouse, speaker, camera, another suitable I/O device or a combination of two or more of these. An I/O device may include one or more sensors. This disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O devices and any suitable I/O interfaces 808 for them. Where appropriate, I/O interface 808 may include one or more device or software drivers enabling processor 802 to drive one or more of these I/O devices. I/O interface 808 may include one or more I/O interfaces 808, where appropriate. Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particular I/O interface, this disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O interface.
In particular embodiments, communication interface 810 includes hardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces for communication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) between computer system 800 and one or more other computer systems 800 or one or more networks. As an example and not by way of limitation, communication interface 810 may include a network interface controller (NIC) for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-based network or a wireless NIC (WNIC) for communicating with a wireless network, such as a WI-FI network. This disclosure contemplates any suitable network and any suitable communication interface 810 for it. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system 800 may communicate with an ad hoc network, a personal area network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of the Internet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portions of one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As an example, computer system 800 may communicate with a wireless PAN (WPAN) (e.g., a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network (e.g., a 802.11a/b/g/n WI-FI network,), a WI-MAX network, a cellular network (e.g., a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), or other suitable wireless network or a combination of two or more of these.
In particular embodiments, bus 812 includes hardware, software, or both coupling components of computer system 800 to each other. As an example and not by way of limitation, bus 812 may include an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT) interconnect, an INFINIBAND interconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express or PCI-Express bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) bus, a Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus, a Secure Digital (SD) memory interface, a Secure Digital Input Output (SDIO) interface, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) bus, a General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) bus, or another suitable bus or a combination of two or more of these. Bus 812 may include one or more buses 812, where appropriate.
The client-side functionality described above can be implemented as a series of instructions stored on a computer-readable storage medium that, when executed, cause a programmable processor to implement the operations described above. While the mobile device 122 may be implemented in a variety of different hardware and computing systems,
Controller 904 together with a suitable operating system may operate to execute instructions in the form of computer code and produce and use data. By way of example and not by way of limitation, the operating system may be Windows-based, Mac-based, or Unix or Linux-based, or Symbian-based, among other suitable operating systems. The operating system, other computer code and/or data may be physically stored within memory 906 that is operatively coupled to controller 904.
Memory 906 may encompass one or more storage media and generally provide a place to store computer code (e.g., software and/or firmware) and data that are used by computing platform 902. By way of example, memory 906 may include various tangible computer-readable storage media including Read-Only Memory (ROM) and/or Random-Access Memory (RAM). As is well known in the art, ROM acts to transfer data and instructions uni-directionally to controller 904, and RAM is used typically to transfer data and instructions in a bi-directional manner. Memory 906 may also include one or more fixed storage devices in the form of, by way of example, hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), flash-memory cards (e.g., Secured Digital or SD cards), among other suitable forms of memory coupled bi-directionally to controller 904. Information may also reside on one or more removable storage media loaded into or installed in computing platform 902 when needed. By way of example, any of a number of suitable memory cards (e.g., SD cards) may be loaded into computing platform 902 on a temporary or permanent basis.
Input output subsystem 910 may comprise one or more input and output devices operably connected to controller 904. For example, input output subsystem may include keyboard, mouse, one or more buttons, and/or, display (e.g., liquid crystal display (LCD), or any other suitable display technology). Generally, input devices are configured to transfer data, commands and responses from the outside world into computing platform 902. The display is generally configured to display a graphical user interface (GUI) that provides an easy to use visual interface between a user of the computing platform 902 and the operating system or application(s) running on the mobile device. Generally, the GUI presents programs, files and operational options with graphical images. During operation, the user may select and activate various graphical images displayed on the display in order to initiate functions and tasks associated therewith. Input output subsystem 910 may also include touch based devices such as touch pad and touch screen. A touchpad is an input device including a surface that detects touch-based inputs of users. Similarly, a touch screen is a display that detects the presence and location of user touch inputs. Input output system 910 may also include dual touch or multi-touch displays or touch pads that can identify the presence, location and movement of more than one touch inputs, such as two or three finger touches.
In particular embodiments, computing platform 902 may additionally comprise audio subsystem 912, camera subsystem 912, wireless communication subsystem 916, sensor subsystems 918, and/or wired communication subsystem 920, operably connected to controller 904 to facilitate various functions of computing platform 902. For example, Audio subsystem 912, including a speaker, a microphone, and a codec module configured to process audio signals, can be utilized to facilitate voice-enabled functions, such as voice recognition, voice replication, digital recording, and telephony functions. For example, camera subsystem 912, including an optical sensor (e.g., a charged coupled device (CCD), image sensor), can be utilized to facilitate camera functions, such as recording photographs and video clips. For example, wired communication subsystem 920 can include a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port for file transferring, or a Ethernet port for connection to a local area network (LAN). Additionally, computing platform 902 may be powered by power source 932.
Wireless communication subsystem 916 can be designed to operate over one or more wireless networks, for example, a wireless PAN (WPAN) (e.g., a BLUETOOTH), a WI-FI network (e.g., an 802.11a/b/g/n network), a WI-MAX network, a cellular network (such as, for example, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network). Additionally, wireless communication subsystem 916 may include hosting protocols such that computing platform 902 may be configured as a base station for other wireless devices. Other input/output devices may include an accelerometer that can be used to detect the orientation of the device.
Sensor subsystems 918 may include one or more sensor devices to provide additional input and facilitate multiple functionalities of computing platform 902. For example, sensor subsystems 918 may include GPS sensor for location positioning, altimeter for altitude positioning, motion sensor for determining orientation of a mobile device, light sensor for photographing function with camera subsystem 914, temperature sensor for measuring ambient temperature, and/or biometric sensor for security application (e.g., fingerprint reader).
In particular embodiments, various components of computing platform 902 may be operably connected together by one or more buses (including hardware and/or software). As an example and not by way of limitation, the one or more buses may include an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT) interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBAND interconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express PCI-Express bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) bus, a Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus, a Secure Digital (SD) memory interface, a Secure Digital Input Output (SDIO) interface, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) bus, a General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) bus, an Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA) bus, or another suitable bus or a combination of two or more of these.
Herein, a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium or media may include one or more semiconductor-based or other integrated circuits (ICs) (such, as for example, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific ICs (ASICs)), hard disk drives (HDDs), hybrid hard drives (HHDs), optical discs, optical disc drives (ODDs), magneto-optical discs, magneto-optical drives, floppy diskettes, floppy disk drives (FDDs), magnetic tapes, solid-state drives (SSDs), RAM-drives, SECURE DIGITAL cards or drives, any other suitable computer-readable non-transitory storage media, or any suitable combination of two or more of these, where appropriate. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium may be volatile, non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile, where appropriate.
Herein, “or” is inclusive and not exclusive, unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A or B” means “A, B, or both,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Moreover, “and” is both joint and several, unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A and B” means “A and B, jointly or severally,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.
The scope of this disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments described or illustrated herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. The scope of this disclosure is not limited to the example embodiments described or illustrated herein. Moreover, although this disclosure describes and illustrates respective embodiments herein as including particular components, elements, functions, operations, or steps, any of these embodiments may include any combination or permutation of any of the components, elements, functions, operations, or steps described or illustrated anywhere herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Furthermore, reference in the appended claims to an apparatus or system or a component of an apparatus or system being adapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operative to perform a particular function encompasses that apparatus, system, component, whether or not it or that particular function is activated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, or component is so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled, operable, or operative.
This application is a continuation under U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/619,918, filed on 11 Feb. 2015, which is a continuation under U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,989,818, filed on 17 Aug. 2012, which is a continuation-in-part under U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. Pat. No. 8,954,100, filed on 4 Nov. 2011.
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