Applications available on the Internet have progressed from facilitating a medium of information delivery to a venue for sales and, more recently, to a platform for social networking. An online marketplace such as eBay.com is an example of an online seller. Similarly, mySpace.com and Facebook.com are examples of social networking.
The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to the processing of data. Specifically, the present disclosure addresses systems and methods of providing content generated by a user of an ecommerce network for social network platform integration.
Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide embodiments of the subject matter set forth in the present disclosure, it will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details.
Content may be provided over a network from a first server to a second server. The first server may be, e.g., a web server, a database server, or a listing server. For example, a network-based publication system may include a first web server that provides content over a network to the second web server. Specifically, the second server may be a third-party social network server that provides a social networking service (e.g., Facebook®) to millions of users and provides social network data.
Each of the first server and second server may provide the content to one or more client machines, which client machines may be the same client machine or a different client machine.
A client machine may be a computer, a mobile device, or other machine functioning, temporarily, or permanently, as a client in relation to the content machine. For example, the client machine may, as indicated above, have a user. The user may be a human user or a machine-implemented user (e.g., software executing on the client machine). The content provided by the social network server may be presented to a client machine and thence to the user by the client machine. Other couplings between these or similar servers and one or more client machines may be used.
In some example embodiments, a system and method for sharing shopping information on a network-based social platform is illustrated. A request may be received from a first user of a network-based social platform to add an item to a list associated with a second user of the network-based social platform. The item may be listed for sale on a network-based marketplace. The list may include one or more items and facilitate watching the items in real time (e.g., a watch list) on the network-based social platform to monitor the progress of an auction or an immediate purchase of the item on the network-based marketplace. Next, in some embodiments, the system may determine whether the first user is authorized to add the item to the list based on a predetermined relationship between the first user and the second user. For example, a predetermined relationship may have been consensually established by the first and second users on the network-based social platform and may, in some embodiments, include the relationship “friend” or “favorite friend.” Other social network platforms use the concept of “following” in which one person can follow another person or topic without there necessarily being a two-way relationship. Finally, the system may communicate the request to the network-based marketplace which, in turn, adds the item to the list associated with the second user. Accordingly, in some embodiments, a first user on a network-based social platform may share shopping information concerning an item for sale on a network-based marketplace with a second user on a network-based social platform by adding the item to a list used to monitor the item on the network-based social platform. In some embodiments, the second user may block the first user from adding the item to the watch list of the second user, or may delete after it has been added or posted.
Turning specifically to the network-based social platform 13, an application program interface (API) server 25 and a web server 27 are coupled to, and provide programmatic and web interfaces respectively to, one or more application servers 29. The application servers 29 may host one or more social applications 31 and a network-based marketplace interface module 33 that communicates with a communication module 39 and a processing module 41. The application servers 29 are, in turn, shown to be coupled to one or more database server(s) 35 that facilitate access to one or more database(s) 37.
The social applications 31 provide a number of social networking functions and services to users that access the network-based social platform 13. For example, the social applications 31 may enable a user to store information in a profile that may be viewed at the client machines 20, 22 and to selectively grant access to information that appears on the profile to other users who may also view the profile at their client machines 20, 22. The social applications 31 may provide criteria that may be employed by a user to grant various levels of access to various levels of users. For example, a first user may access profile information associated with a second user responsive to the first user achieving the status of “friend” in relation to a second user. A user may achieve the status of friend by accepting an invitation from another user or by sending a request to a user that subsequently grants die request.
The social applications 31 may further enable third-party service providers to add “applications” on the network-based social platform 13 that are utilized by users to interact with other users. For example, a network-based marketplace application may be added by a third-party service provider in the form of the network-based marketplace interface module 33, the communication module 39, and the processing module 41 that may provide market application services in the network-based social platform 13 environment and may communicate with the network-based marketplace 12.
In one embodiment, a request related to the marketplace application may be generally processed as follows. The request may originate at the client machines 20, 22 that communicate the request via programmatic or web interface services 25, 27 to the social applications 31 that, in turn, communicate the request to the network-based marketplace interface module 33 that, in turn, communicates the request to the communication module 39 and processing module 41 that process the request. Conversely, the communication module 39 and processing module 41 may respond to the social applications 31 via the network-based marketplace interface module 33. In some instances processing of the request may require communication with the network-based marketplace 12. In such instances the communication module 39 or the processing module 41 may communicate via the API server 25 with the network-based marketplace 12.
The network-based social platform 13 may be embodied as FACEBOOK® services, a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them provided by Facebook of Palo Alto, Calif.
The web client 16, it will be appreciated, in one embodiment accesses the various social applications 31 via the web interface supported by the web server 27. Similarly, the programmatic client 18 in one embodiment accesses the various services and functions provided by the social applications 31 via the programmatic interface provided by the API server 25.
Turning to the network-based marketplace 12, an application program interface (API) server 24 and a web server 26 are coupled to, and provide programmatic and web interfaces respectively to, one or more application servers 28. The application servers 28 host one or more marketplace applications 30 and payment applications 32. The application servers 28 are, in turn, shown to be coupled to one or more database server(s) 35 that facilitate access to one or more databases 36.
The marketplace applications 30 provide a number of marketplace functions and services to users that access the network-based marketplace 12. The payment applications 32 likewise provide a number of payment services and functions to users. The payment applications 32 may allow users to quantify for, and accumulate, value e.g., in a commercial currency, such as the U.S. dollar, or a proprietary currency, such as “points”) in accounts, and then later to redeem the accumulated value for products (e.g., goods or services) that are made available via the marketplace applications 30. While the marketplace and payment applications 30 and 32, respectively, are shown in
Further, while the system 100 shown in
The web client 16, it will be appreciated, accesses the various marketplace and payment applications 30 and 32 via the web interface supported by the web server 26. Similarly, the programmatic client 18 accesses the various services and functions provided by the marketplace and payment applications 30 and 32 via the programmatic interface provided by the API server 24. The programmatic client 18 may, for example, be a seller application (e.g., the TurboLister application developed by eBay Inc., of San Jose, Calif.) to enable sellers to author and manage listings of items on the network-based marketplace 12 in an off-line manner, and to perform batch-mode communications between the programmatic client 18 and the network-based marketplace 12.
It will be appreciated that the marketplace applications 30, payment applications 32, social applications 31, the network-based marketplace interface module 33, the communication module 39 and the processing module 41 may execute on a single platform. Accordingly, in one embodiment, the aforementioned applications/modules may execute on the network-based marketplace 12 and in another embodiment the aforementioned applications/module may execute on the network-based social platform 13.
The news feed applications 47 publish events associated with the user and friends of the user on the network-based social platform 13. The news feed applications 47 may publish the events on the user profile of a user. For example, the news feed applications 47 may publish the uploading of a photo album by one user on the user profile of the user and the user profiles of friends of the user.
The profile applications 49 may maintain user profiles for each of the users on the network-based social platform 13. Further, the profile applications 49 may enable a user to restrict access to selected parts of their (profile to prevent viewing by other users. The note applications 51 may be used to author notes that may be published on various user interfaces.
The forum applications 53 may maintain a forum for users to post comments and display the forum via the profile associated with a user. The user may add comments to the forum, remove comments from the forum and restrict visibility to other users. In addition, other users may post comments to the forum.
The search applications 55 may enable a user to perform a keyword search for users, groups, and events. In addition, the search applications 55 may enable a user to search for content (e.g. favorite movies) on profiles accessible to the user.
The relationship applications 57 may maintain relationship information for the users. The network applications 59 may facilitate the addition of social networks by a user, the social networks based on a school, workplace, or region or any social construct for which the user may prove an affiliation. The communication applications 61 may process incoming and outgoing messages, maintain an inbox for each user, facilitate sharing of content, facilitate interaction among friends (e.g., poking), process requests, process events, process group invitations and process communicating notifications.
The account applications 63 may provide services to facilitate registering, updating, and deleting user accounts. The photo applications 65 may provide services to upload photographs, arrange photographs, set privacy options for albums and tag photographs with text strings. The event applications 67 may provide services to create events, review upcoming events, and review past events. The group applications 69 may be used to maintain group information, display group information, and navigate to groups.
Turning to
The signal generation module 77 can provide a rendering signal for rendering at least the content of the received signal. This rendering signal is transmitted by transmission module 79 via network 14 to a social network, not shown. Alternatively, instead of transmitting signals via the network to a social network server, the transmission module 79 may transmit the signals, either via the network 14 or internally to the network-based marketplace 12, to a social platform integrated within a network-based marketplace 12. Further, the signals from signal generation module 77 may include signals such as signals requesting a user of the social network for an opinion about the content, or for outfit suggestions about the content, among other things, as more fully discussed below,
Disclosed herein are ecommerce marketplace user stories for social networking platform integration, according to some example embodiments,
As an ecommerce marketplace user (e.g., an eBay or Amazon.com user), a user can share purchases with friends so that the user may show new clothes to friends on a social networking platform (e.g., Facebook.com or a platform integration within an ecommerce marketplace). An ecommerce marketplace can be referred to as an ecommerce marketplace. These clothes, and other items similarly shared with friends as discussed herein, may be termed “commercial items.” For example, at the end of ecommerce marketplace checkout flow, the user may be provided with the ability to post her transaction involving a commercial item to a social network wall. This wall concept is sometimes referred to herein as “storage space,” and could include renderable or viewable storage space. The user may tag a post with friends so that it shows up in their social graph(s). The post could include a picture and certain item information. Further, the friend could be provided with a user selectable “See similar” function to see similar pictures and item information. For example, there is a “See Similar’ function on eBay's fashion page which can be located adjacent to the item listing, or the item's photo as a link. It could also be added as a contextual pop-up. The shared post could include selection like “commentable” or “likeable.” These cases describe interactions that would feed into the social network, for example, Facebook. “Commentable” means that the marketplace user can share a particular product or item with his or her social graph via the Facebook Wall and include a comment along with it. “Likeable” means a Facebook user can provide a Facebook thumbs up if he or she likes the product or item. A social network user may also be able to provide a thumbs down if he or she doesn't like the product or item.
An ecommerce marketplace user may like to get the opinions of friends before buying an item on an ecommerce marketplace. To do this, a user can push an item to a social networking platform in the form of a poll. For example, as seen in
The opinions of certain voters may count more to the poll owner than the opinions of other voters. In other words, there is a certain social influence that can occur depending on the voter. The voter can have a certain social influencer rating. This is seen in
An ecommerce marketplace user may like to be notified of great deals like Flash Sales and Outlet sales on an ecommerce marketplace within her social networking platform context. The user could be given the ability to subscribe to Flash Sale Alerts from within the ecommerce marketplace. The ability to follow feed items (flash, seller, etc.), which are of special interest to the user, can then be streamed into her Facebook wall or other social network storage space of the user (including renderable storage space), and she may also have the ability to share alerts with Facebook or other social network friends. For example, a flash seller could be an entity the network-based marketplace has entered into a development agreement with, for example an HDTV manufacturer that has a surplus of fifty-inch television sets that need to move quickly; this can result in a discounted Flash Sale. “Following” a flash sale basically means that a consumer has expressed interest in being alerted if that manufacturer has any discounted sales on the marketplace, such as eBay. The user can do this by opting into a signup form on the manufacturer's page of the marketplace, filling out a questionnaire for that purpose. The mechanism to share with friends alerts for sales could simply be a link under the sale in question, for example a manufacturer might have a fitly percent (50%) off sale, and the link could be directly under, or near, the notice of the offer. Selecting the link could enable the ecommerce marketplace to collect the target user's email address or Facebook handle and then push that sale information to either the target user's email account or the target user's Facebook
As an ecommerce marketplace user who is also on a social networking platform, one may like a way to quickly build images of entire outfits and share/recommend them with friends so that she may show people how stylish she is.
As seen in
While the paper doll-like figure is shown as boxes 102, 104, 106 for caps, tops/jackets and pants, it could just as easily be in another form, such as a stick drawing of a person or a full drawing of a person. While only clothes are shown as the outfit, the outfit could include shoes and clothing accessories worn for a fashionable effect. The user would have the ability to “pivot” on, or select, an item listing in order to view one or more similar listings within a set of item listings on an ecommerce site using, for example, a similar items algorithm. As one example, the user could select items similar to the selected item by using a selectable “Find Similar Items” function of the type seen on fashion pages on the eBay site. Similar item listings to the item or item listing “pivoted” on would then be rendered to the user. As another example, the user could use eBay's selectable silhouette navigation to select similar articles of clothing, shoes, and accessories of a selected type. The user could then leverage merch personalization (e.g., cloth sizes, sizes, gender, top categories) and tap into a user's Facebook profile to determine favorite brands, etc. Stated another way, the user can access (Or tap into) a friend's Facebook profile, obtain the Friend's favorite brands, sizes, colors, and the like, from the profile, and then dress the paper doll with the friend's favorite brands, sizes, colors, and the like. The eBay user could then send the outfitted paper doll to the Facebook friend, for example, by sending it to the friend's storage space (or wall) on Facebook. Using this, one could create and push sets out into user's social graph or browse the user's sets on a social networking platform. The user could push “set” recommendations to friends with the outfit builder UI. The Facebook friend could choose to buy all or part of the outfit on eBay. The user who put the outfit together can then be rewarded with something like eBay Bucks, which is an affiliate of eBay. Purchases could be made on the eBay site.
One could have an optional hook, or connection, to an affiliate program, on an ecommerce site, such as the eBay Affiliate program. If the builder chooses, he or she may join the affiliate program and the builder may get a percent of the sale (real money). The builder may also earn virtual points on the social networking platform, (not tied to a sale, but tied to views or some other metric. Dollars or virtual points could be credited after a person to whom the user has made an outfit recommendation using the Paper Doll tool has made a purchase. These virtual points may be redeemed to acquire unique contest-related items offered by the ecommerce marketplace, be ranked against your peers, or be ranked against a social networking platform community. The higher one's rank, the higher one's social status. For example, one could be elevated to the rank of a Chanel® brand expert. One could be given a visual indicator of that rank, similar to, say, a badge. Other marketplace users would then see that that user is a recognized expert in Chanel® items and may choose to engage the user to help them with their purchase decisions or have discussions, provided the user allows it. With the above as general background, examples of using the Outfit Builder tool are discussed below.
Build Outfits and Share them with/Recommend them to Friends
If an ecommerce marketplace user is also on a social networking platform, she might like a way to quickly build entire outfits and share them with or recommend them to friends so that she may show people how stylish she is. The paper doll UI described below allows a user to mix and match pieces quickly and easily for social network use, or for general use. Users can upload to a site like eBay a picture of themselves and pictures of a couple of items from their personal closet. The personal closet could be the user's physical closet or their virtual closet on an ecommerce site such as eBay. For example, the user may navigate to an “eBay Closet” associated with the user, where images of saved items are stored. A user scenario could be that Nicola, an eBay Fashion enthusiast, decides to use the eBay Fashion Paper doll toot to help her with her Fashion crisis. She has this grey pant that she is usually not sure what to wear with. She takes a picture of the grey pant, in this case from her physical closet. She then uploads the photo and the grey pant is superimposed on the tool as the paper dolls legs.
Nicola then contacts via the Poll Your Friends/eBay community option. Polling allows Nicola to reach out to her friends on Facebook or to reach out to other eBay Fashion Community members and ask their opinion to help influence her purchase decision. Nicola can poll other eBay users to help dress the paper doll with other items from eBay that will go with this grey pant. She can also set a budget, for example, not to exceed a total of $200.
Those users who wish to participate could then pull Nicola's paper doll dressed in the grey pants over to their workspace and fill in the missing parts like shirts, shoes, accessories, hand bags, coats, scarves etc. They could do so by browsing the Fashion site on an ecommerce marketplace such as eBay, navigating to an item, and then clicking on Add to Paper Doll list. The item would then get ported over to the Paper Doll list and the user can then go to the tool and drag and drop the item on the paper doll's legs if it is a pant or on the paper doll's top if it is a shirt, etc. A further ability would allow the users to pivot on any piece within the set using a “Similar Items” algorithm as discussed above.
As another example, Sophie decides to participate in dressing up the paper doll and starts pulling together shirts from eBay. She finds this white shirt but she doesn't like the black buttons on it. She decides to look for other similar items using eBay's “Similar Stems” algorithm, and then reviews the resulting similar items to determine which item she prefers.
As an example of leveraging merchandise personalization (e.g., clothing sizes, gender, top categories and of tapping into a user's Facebook profile to determine favorite brands, etc., as discussed briefly above, consider the following scenario. One of the other users on eBay, Isabelle, happens to be Nicola's Facebook friend. Isabelle also decides to participate in the paper doll poll. Being Nicola's friend on Facebook, Isabelle can also see Nicola's favorite brands, so she searches on eBay for items from Nicola's favorite brands that will go with the grey pants. Isabelle goes to Nicola's eBay Fashion wall and submits the items that will go with her grey pants. She can then put together the various pieces using the Outfit builder tool and compile a couple of full outfits by dragging a shirt, a scarf, a bag and shoes that go with the grey pants. She can then save it and submit it to Nicola's friend's suggestion walls where other users and Nicola can rate it.
Creating and Pushing Sets Out into a User's Social Graph
Users have now begun responding to Nicola's paper doll poll by rating the outfits that other users have compiled. Nicola browses through some of the sets that other users have put together, pulls three of her favorites and creates a another poll asking her friends to weigh in on which look would suit her best. If a user puts together a set for Nicola and Nicola decides to buy an item from this set, then the user who compiled that set together could get a percentage of the revenue of the sale, if the user belongs to an affiliate program on the ecommerce site where the purchase is made. This is an example of the eBay Affiliate program discussed above.
An ecommerce marketplace user on a social networking platform, might like to see admired brands and “looks” that she might find on an ecommerce marketplace because she is not familiar with the inventory. This is seen in
eCommerce Marketplace Coupon Pyramid
As a frequent user of an ecommerce marketplace shopper who also uses a social networking platform, a user might like away to share great discounts with her friends so that they may all save money. As an ecommerce marketplace marketer, the user might like to run viral percent off-based promotions, but have a way to cap them at N coupons so the promotion doesn't run out of control. This could be implemented to work as a pyramid scheme. For example, a first degree buyer is awarded a 30% off coupon and ten 25% referral coupons. Ten referrals may send five 20% off referral coupons and five referrals may send a 15% off referral coupon. Those people who were many degrees of separation from the host may be allowed to opt-in for an alert on the next promotion, to be prepared for the next time.
As a fashionista, a user may like a way to share clothes with her friends as a form of self expression. The user may post items they own to her Facebook wall. Viewers may browse user's closet and recommend matching items from an ecommerce marketplace inventory. The user may in turn view those items recommended by friends. Viewers may do a “likeness” search off any item in their friend's closet. The item inventory would be stored in the network-based marketplace's, here eBay's, data model, but the actual closet could be rendered either on the marketplace such as eBay, for example as a page within eBay.com, or on Facebook as a Facebook App.
In
Turning to
Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules may constitute either software modules (e.g., code embodied on a machine-readable medium or in a transmission signal) or hardware modules. A hardware module is tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardware modules of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application or application portion) as a hardware module that operates to perform certain operations as described herein.
In various embodiments, a hardware module may be implemented mechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware module may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured (e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) to perform certain operations. A hardware module may also comprise programmable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmable processor') that is temporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. It may be appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware module mechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations.
Accordingly, the term “hardware module” should be understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired) or temporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner and/or to perform certain operations described herein. 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 the hardware modules comprise a general-purpose processor configured using software, the general-purpose processor may be configured as respective different hardware modules at different times. Software may accordingly configure a processor, for example, to constitute a particular hardware module at one instance of time and to 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, the described hardware modules may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multiple of such hardware modules exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) that connect 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 device to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardware module may then, at a later time, access the memory device 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).
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. The modules referred to herein may, in some example embodiments, comprise processor-implemented modules.
Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partially processor-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or processors or processor-implemented modules. The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed among the one or more processors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments, the processor or processors may be located in a single location (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment or as a server farm), while in other embodiments the processors may be distributed across a number of locations.
The one or more processors may also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples of machines including processors), these operations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet') and via one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., Application Program Interfaces (APIs).)
Example embodiments may be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations of them. Example embodiments may be implemented using a computer program product, e.g., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier, e.g., in a machine-readable medium for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus, e.g., a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple computers.
A computer program can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network.
In example embodiments, operations may be performed by one or more programmable processors executing a computer program to perform functions by operating on input data and generating output. Method operations can also be performed by, and apparatus of example embodiments may be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).
The computing system can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other. In embodiments deploying a programmable computing system, it will be appreciated that both hardware and software architectures require consideration. Specifically, it be appreciated that the choice of whether to implement certain functionality in permanently configured hardware (e.g., an ASIC), in temporarily configured hardware (e.g., a combination of software and a programmable processor), or a combination of permanently and temporarily configured hardware may be a design choice. Below are set out hardware (e.g., machine) and software architectures that may be deployed, in various example embodiments.
The example computer system 300 includes a processor 302 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) or both), a main memory 304 and a static memory 306, which communicate with each other via a bus 308. The computer system 300 may further include a video display unit 310 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system 300 also includes an alphanumeric input device 312 (e.g., a keyboard), a user interface (UI) navigation device 314 (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 316, a signal generation device 318 (e.g., a speaker and a network interface device 320.
The disk drive unit 316 includes a machine-readable medium 322 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures and instructions 324 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 324 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 304, static memory 306, and/or within the processor 302 during execution thereof by the computer system 300, the main memory 304 and the processor 302 also constituting machine-readable media.
While the machine-readable medium 322 is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more instructions 324 or data structures. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any tangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the described implementations, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures utilized by or associated with such instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of machine-readable media include non-volatile memory, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.
The instructions 324 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 326 using a transmission medium. The instructions 324 may be transmitted using the network interface device 320 and any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., HTTP). Examples of communication networks include a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), the Internet, mobile telephone networks, Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., Win and WiMax networks). The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible media to facilitate communication of such software.
Although an embodiment has been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, show by way of illustration, and not of limitation, specific embodiments in which the subject matter may be practiced. The embodiments illustrated are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed herein. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. This 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.
Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single invention or inventive concept if more than one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description.
This application is related to and claims priority to provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/297,125 entitled “Integration of ecommerce Features into Social Networking Platform,” which was filed on Jan. 21, 2010, which is assigned to the assignee of this application, and which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61297125 | Jan 2010 | US |