Patent Grant
11863508
The present disclosure generally relates to the technical field of managing the display of content to users of a social network. Specifically, disclosed are methods for progressively providing more detailed information to a user of a social network based on the user's request.
Social network members utilize social messaging systems for a variety of purposes. Some members utilize the social messaging system to provide member to member communication, similar to email, which may be available between members. Other members may primarily share content. For example, a first member may upload particular content to the messaging system. The messaging system may alert a second user that the content is available. The second user may then view the content. Because users of social networking systems have varying interests and uses for functionality provided by the social networking system, methods and systems to progressively adapt to requests by the user for information are needed.
In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals may describe similar components in different views. Like numerals having different letter suffixes may represent different instances of similar components. Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings.
The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machine program products that embody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide an understanding of various embodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In general, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques are not necessarily shown in detail.
Aspects of the present disclosure include systems, methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machine program products that provide for progressive insertion of additional content into a sequence of content based on input from a user. For example, in some aspects, an advertisement may be inserted into a sequence of content being viewed by the user. If the advertisement is of particular interest to the user, the user may indicate a request for additional information. For example, the user may perform a “swipe up” gesture in response to the advertisement to indicate their interest in more information. Upon receiving the request, the social messaging system may present additional content to the user providing further information. In some aspects, this additional content may take the form of a long form video, which describes more detailed information on a particular topic to the user. In response to learning more about the subject area from the additional content, the user may decide to perform additional actions. For example, the additional content may convey benefits associated with installation of a particular third party application on the user's device. If the user desires the benefits described by the additional content, the user may agree to proceed with an installation of the third party application. Alternatively, the additional content may describe benefits that may be obtained via a web interface. Upon agreement by the user, the social networking system may facilitate a visit to the web interface for the user. For example, the social network system may open the web interface within a browser that is pre-installed on the user's mobile device. The web interface may provide a number of features useful to the user.
In some aspects, a user may select to view a sequence of content. The sequence may be defined, in some aspects, by a chronological order in which the content was added to a messaging system. In other aspects, the sequence may be defined by a user. For example, a first user may arrange content into a particular sequence, such that a second user views the content, the content is presented to the user in the sequence as arranged by the first user. As the second user is viewing the content, additional content may be inserted into the sequence. For example, in some aspects, the additional content may be inserted periodically.
In some aspects, the additional content may provide a brief description of a subject area. In some aspects, the additional content may include a short video. The video may provide a brief introduction to a subject area. In some aspects, the additional content may be displayed within a user interface that can accept at least two types of input. A first type of input may request that the user be returned to the sequence of content. For example, a “swipe down” input may indicate that the user requests that the display of the additional content be stopped, and the user returned to the sequence of content. A second type of input may indicate the user requests second additional contet relating to the first additional content. For example, in some aspects, a “swipe up” gesture may signal a request for second additional content. In response to the second type of input, further information may be displayed. In some aspects that utilize a video for the additional content, a longer video may be provided as the second additional information. The second additional information may be displayed in a user interface that also accepts at least two types of input. Similar to the first user interface described above, the second user interface may also accept input requesting a return to the sequence of content. A second type of input may request third additional information. For example, the first additional information may include an installation dialog, enabling the user to install software, or the third additional information may be a web link, enabling the user to link to web content in a browser application.
In the example shown in
The network 106 may include, or operate in conjunction with, an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi® network, another type of network, or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, the network 106 or a portion of the network 106 may include a wireless or cellular network and the connection to the network 106 may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection, or another type of cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, the coupling may implement any of a variety of types of data transfer technology, such as Single Carrier Radio Transmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth-generation wireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard, or others defined by various standard-setting organizations, other long-range protocols, or other data transfer technology.
The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality via the network 106 to a particular messaging client application 104. While certain functions of the messaging system 100 are described herein as being performed by either a messaging client application 104 or by the messaging server system 108, it will be appreciated that the location of certain functionality either within the messaging client application 104 or the messaging server system 108 is a design choice. For example, it may be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology and functionality within the messaging server system 108, but to later migrate this technology and functionality to the messaging client application 104 where a client device 102 has a sufficient processing capacity.
The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operations that are provided to the messaging client application 104. Such operations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, and processing data generated by the messaging client application 104. This data may include message content, client device information, geolocation information, media annotation and overlays, message content persistence conditions, social network information, and live event information, as examples. Data exchanges within the messaging system 100 are invoked and controlled through functions available via user interfaces (UIs) of the messaging client application 104.
Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, an Application Programming Interface (API) server 110 is coupled to, and provides a programmatic interface to, an application server 112. The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a database server 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which is stored data associated with messages processed by the application server 112.
The API server 110 receives and transmits message data (e.g., commands and message payloads) between the client device 102 and the application server 112. Specifically, the API server 110 provides a set of interfaces (e.g., routines and protocols) that can be called or queried by the messaging client application 104 in order to invoke functionality of the application server 112. The API server 110 exposes various functions supported by the application server 112, including account registration; login functionality; the sending of messages, via the application server 112, from a particular messaging client application 104 to another messaging client application 104; the sending of media files (e.g., images or video) from a messaging client application 104 to the application server 112, for possible access by another messaging client application 104; the setting of a collection of media data (e.g., story); the retrieval of a list of friends of a user of a client device 102; the retrieval of such collections; the retrieval of messages and content; the adding and deletion of friends to and from a social graph; the location of friends within a social graph; and the detecting of an application event (e.g., relating to the messaging client application 104).
The application server 112 hosts a number of applications and subsystems, including a messaging server application 114 and a social network system 116. The messaging server application 114 implements a number of message processing technologies and functions, particularly related to the aggregation and other processing of content (e.g., textual and multimedia content) included in messages received from multiple instances of the messaging client application 104. As will be described in further detail, the text and media content from multiple sources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g., called stories or galleries). These collections are then made available, by the messaging server application 114, to the messaging client application 104. Other processor- and memory-intensive processing of data may also be performed server-side by the messaging server application 114, in view of the hardware requirements for such processing.
The social network system 116 supports various social networking functions and services, and makes these functions and services available to the messaging server application 114. To this end, the social network system 116 maintains and accesses an entity graph within the database 120. Examples of functions and services supported by the social network system 116 include the identification of other users of the messaging system 100 with whom a particular user has relationships or whom the user is “following,” and also the identification of other entities and interests of a particular user.
The disclosed methods and systems may utilize the messaging system 100 to provide for progressive presentation of content on one or more client devices 102, as explained in more detail below.
The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing the temporary access to content permitted by the messaging client application 104 and the messaging server application 114. To this end, the ephemeral timer system 202 incorporates a number of timers that, based on duration and display parameters associated with a message, or collection of messages (e.g., a story, such as the story component 404 discussed below), selectively display and enable access to messages and associated content via the messaging client application 104. Further details regarding the operation of the ephemeral timer system 202 are provided below.
The collection management system 204 is responsible for managing collections of media (e.g., collections of text, image, video, and audio data). In some examples, a collection of content (e.g., messages, including images, video, text, and audio) may be organized into an “event gallery” or an “event story.” Such a collection may be made available for a specified time period, such as the duration of an event to which the content relates. For example, content relating to a music concert may be made available as a “story” for the duration of that music concert. The collection management system 204 may also be responsible for publishing an icon that provides notification of the existence of a particular collection to the user interface of the messaging client application 104.
The annotation system 206 provides various functions that enable a user to annotate or otherwise modify or edit media content associated with a message. For example, the annotation system 206 provides functions related to the generation and publishing of media overlays for messages processed by the messaging system 100. For example, the annotation system 206 operatively supplies a media overlay (e.g., a filter) to the messaging client application 104 based on a geolocation of the client device 102. In another example, the annotation system 206 operatively supplies a media overlay to the messaging client application 104 based on other information, such as social network information of the user of the client device 102. A media overlay may include audio and visual content and visual effects. Examples of audio and visual content include pictures, texts, logos, animations, and sound effects. An example of a visual effect includes color overlaying. The audio and visual content or the visual effects can be applied to a media content item (e.g., a photo) at the client device 102. For example, the media overlay may include text that can be overlaid on top of a photograph generated by the client device 102. In another example, the media overlay includes an identification of a location (e.g., Venice Beach), a name of a live event, or a name of a merchant (e.g., Beach Coffee House). In another example, the annotation system 206 uses the geolocation of the client device 102 to identify a media overlay that includes the name of a merchant at the geolocation of the client device 102. The media overlay may include other indicia associated with the merchant. The media overlays may be stored in the database 120 and accessed through the database server 118.
In one exemplary embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides a user-based publication platform that enables users to select a geolocation on a map, and upload content associated with the selected geolocation. The user may also specify circumstances under which a particular media overlay should be offered to other users. The annotation system 206 generates a media overlay that includes the uploaded content and associates the uploaded content with the selected geolocation.
In another exemplary embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides a merchant-based publication platform that enables merchants to select a particular media overlay associated with a geolocation via a bidding process. For example, the annotation system 206 associates the media overlay of a highest-bidding merchant with a corresponding geolocation for a predefined amount of time.
The progressive attachment system 208 may provide for the insertion of content into a sequence of other content. For example, in some aspects, the progressive attachment system 208 may insert content into a sequence of the other content periodically, for example, after a period of time elapses. In some aspects, the progressive attachment system may provide for a user to control an amount of content inserted into the sequence of content. For example, user input may indicate that no further content is to be inserted into the sequence of content after presentation of a first piece of content. Alternatively, the user input may indicate a request to insert additional content into the sequence of content after the user has viewed and considered the first piece of content.
The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table 314. An entity table 302 stores entity data, including an entity graph 304. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table 302 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects, places, events, etc. Regardless of type, any entity regarding which the messaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognized entity. Each entity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as an entity type identifier (not shown).
The entity graph 304 furthermore stores information regarding relationships and associations between or among entities. Such relationships may be social, professional (e.g., work at a common corporation or organization), interested-based, or activity-based, merely for example.
The database 120 also stores annotation data, in the example form of filters, in an annotation table 312. Filters for which data is stored within the annotation table 312 are associated with and applied to videos (for which data is stored in a video table 310) and/or images (for which data is stored in an image table 308). Filters, in one example, are overlays that are displayed as overlaid on an image or video during presentation to a recipient user. Filters may be of varies types, including user-selected filters from a gallery of filters presented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104 when the sending user is composing a message. Other types of filters include geolocation filters (also known as geo-filters), which may be presented to a sending user based on geographic location. For example, geolocation filters specific to a neighborhood or special location may be presented within a user interface by the messaging client application 104, based on geolocation information determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit of the client device 102. Another type of filter is a data filter, which may be selectively presented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104, based on other inputs or information gathered by the client device 102 during the message creation process. Examples of data filters include a current temperature at a specific location, a current speed at which a sending user is traveling, a battery life for a client device 102, or the current time.
Other annotation data that may be stored within the image table 608 is so-called “lens” data. A “lens” may be a real-time special effect and sound that may be added to an image or a video.
As mentioned above, the video table 310 stores video data which, in one embodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintained within the message table 314. Similarly, the image table 308 stores image data associated with messages for which message data is stored in the entity table 302. The entity table 302 may associate various annotations from the annotation table 312 with various images and videos stored in the image table 308 and the video table 310.
A story table 306 stores data regarding collections of messages and associated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into a collection (e.g., a story or a gallery). The creation of a particular collection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., a user for whom a record is maintained in the entity table 302). A user may create a “personal story” in the form of a collection of content that has been created and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, the user interface of the messaging client application 104 may include an icon that is user-selectable to enable a sending user to add specific content to his or her personal story.
A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collection of content from multiple users that is created manually, automatically, or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example, a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted content from various locations and events. Users whose client devices have location services enabled and who are at a common location or event at a particular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via a user interface of the messaging client application 104, to contribute content to a particular live story. The live story may be identified to the user by the messaging client application 104, based on his or her location. The end result is a “live story” told from a community perspective.
A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,” which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within a specific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus) to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, a contribution to a location story may require a second degree of authentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specific organization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the university campus). A content collection may define a sequence of content. For example, the sequence of content may be defined by an order in which the content was inserted into the collection by a user. Alternatively, the sequence may be user defined. For example, an initial sequence may be defined based on the insertion sequence. This insertion sequence may then be subsequently modified via input by the user. For example, the user may be able to drag and drop content within a user interface to define changes to the sequence of content defined by the collection. The methods and systems disclosed herein may insert further content into the sequence of content defined by the collection.
The message table 314 may be a relational database table in some aspects, with a row of the table representing a single message. In some aspects, each row in the message table may store content for the message, and a deletion time for the message. As discussed above, the ephemeral timer system 202 may delete messages according to a time associated with the message. For example, when a user creates a message, they may specify a maximum life time of the message, such as by providing an expiration date/time of the message or an amount of time the message is to remain (e.g. 3 hours). This time information may be stored in the message table 314. As discussed below, in some aspects, the time information may be adjusted based on when certain content may be viewed by a user. Additionally, time remaining for particular content/messages may effect an order in which content is viewed and/or whether additional content is inserted into a sequence of content.
The content sequencing component 402 identifies a sequence of media that may be presented on a display screen of a client device 102. The content sequencing component 402 may interface with the collection management system 204 to obtain the sequence of media. For example, the sequence of media may originate from an event story or event gallery as discussed above. The content sequencing component 402 may retrieve the sequence of media from the collection management system 204 in some aspects.
The insertion component 404 may be responsible for determining when to insert one or more additional media into the sequence of media. For example, in some aspects, the insertion component may determine an amount of elapsed time since a previous insertion of additional media, and determine a next time for insertion based on the elapsed time. In some aspects, the insertion component may also determine an amount of time since a user registered with the messaging system 100, and may inhibit insertions until the amount of time reaches a threshold.
The input control component 406 may receive input from a user. For example, the input control component may receive inputs indicating a “swipe up” or a “swipe down,” or other inputs that may be provided via a touch device, such as a touch screen display.
The presentation component 408 may present media on an electronic display of a client device 102. In some aspects, the presented media is an image file. In other aspects, the presented media may be a video file. In some aspects, the presented media may be an installation dialog, such as a dialog enabling a user to install additional software on the client device. In some aspects, the presented media may be a web dialog.
The above referenced functional components of the progressive attachment system 208 are configured to communicate with each other (e.g., via a bus, shared memory, a switch, or APIs). Collectively, these components facilitate selective presentation of content to users.
As is understood by skilled artisans in the relevant computer and Internet-related arts, each functional component illustrated in
Furthermore, the various functional components depicted in
The media 502a-d may include any form of media. For example, in some aspects, the media 502a-d may be images. In other aspects, the media 502a-d may be videos. In other aspects, the media 502a-d may be a mix of media types, including one or more of images, video, audio, or other forms of media. The media 502a-d may be part of a predefined sequence. For example, in some aspects, the sequence may be defined by an order of the media within an event story or an event gallery. In some aspects, the sequence of media may be defined when the media 502a-d are added to the event gallery or story. For example, in some aspects, the sequence may be a chronological sequence with respect to times at which the media was added to the event gallery or story. In some aspects, the sequence may be a chronological sequence with respect to a creation time of the media itself, which may be different than a time when the media was added to the event gallery or story.
Sequence 525 includes the sequence 500 of media 502a-d, but also includes an additional media 504. The additional media 504 may have been inserted between two of the media 502b and 502c of the sequence 500 (502a-d). In some aspects, media 504 may be a different type of media than the media 502a-d. For example, while media 502a-d may be video media in some aspects, media 504 may be a fixed image, such as a photo, in some aspects. In other aspects, the media 502a-d and 504 may be the same type of media.
The additional media 504 may be inserted into the sequence 500 by the insertion component 404 to form the sequence 525. In some aspects, additional media 504 may provide information on a particular subject. In some aspects, the media 502a-d may be media that are included as part of an event gallery or story, for example, as defined by a first user. A second user may then view the first user's story, and view the media 502a-d in an order defined by the sequence 502a-d. The insertion component 404 may determine, based on one or more criteria, that additional media is to be inserted at some point in the sequence 500. The exemplary sequence 525 shows the media 504 inserted between the media 502b and 502c in the sequence. In some aspects, a decision by the insertion component 404 on whether to insert additional media within the sequence 500 may be based on an amount of time remaining in any one or more ephemeral messages included in the content 502a-d. For example, if the insertion component determines that one or more of the content 502a-d may be deleted before a user completes viewing the sequence 500, the insertion component 404 may determine that additional content is to be inserted, in some aspects, to replace or augment that ephemeral content which is scheduled to be deleted within a threshold period of time. In some aspects, a view rate of content included in the sequence 500 may be determined. For example, a number of content viewed over a period of time may be used to determine the view rate. From this information, the insertion component 404 may estimate a view time of each content in the sequence 500 that has not yet been viewed. The estimated view time may then be compared to a content deletion time of any yet un viewed content within the sequence 500. If the estimated view time for particular content is after the content's deletion time, the insertion component may, in some aspects, change an order of the content for viewing such that the ephemeral content is more likely to be viewed before it is deleted. In some other aspects, new content may be inserted before the ephemeral content to augment the sequence of content and compensate for the loss of the ephemeral content before the user is likely to view it.
The sequence 600 also shows the insertion of an additional user interface 620, which displays media 504. The user interface 620 is configured to receive at least two types of input. A first type of input 630 is shown as an exemplary “swipe up”. A second type of input 632 is shown as an exemplary “swipe down.” Upon receiving the input 632, the sequence 600 may move from user interface 620, displaying the media 504, to the user interface 602c, which is shown displaying the media 502c.
In some aspects, upon receiving the input 630, the sequence 600 is shown moving from user interface 620 to user interface 640. The user interface 640 displays media 645. In some aspects, media 645 may be a long form video, which may present information on a similar subject as media 504, but may be a longer video for example, and thus may explain the subject in more depth than media 504 in some aspects. The user interface 645 may accept at least two types of user input. A first type of input 646 may be a “swipe up” gesture. A second type of input 648 may be a “swipe down” gesture. In response to the input 648, the sequence 600 may transition from user interface 640 back to user interface 620. Alternatively, in some aspects, in response to the input 648, the sequence 600 may transition from user interface 640 to user interface 602c, which displays media 502c. In response to the input 646, the sequence 600 may transition from user interface 640 to user interface 660. If the media 645 is a video, the video may pause at a pause point when the sequence 600 transitions from the user interface 640 to the user interface 660. If the sequence 600 returns to the user interface 640, the video may resume from the pause point.
The user interface 660 may enable a user to install an addition software application on the device. Alternatively, the user interface 660 may be a web interface. The user interface 660 may receive at least two forms of input. A first form of input 671 may be a “swipe left” gesture in some aspects. The input 671 may trigger additional actions, such as installation of another software application, or opening of a web based interface. In aspects that provide a web interface implementation of user interface 660, loading of user interfaced 660 maybe initiated in response to the user interface 645 being displayed. By initiating loading of the user interface 660 upon presentation of user interface 645, delays in displaying the user interface 660 are reduced relative to implementations that would wait to load user interface 660 until it was explicitly requested by the user.
A second type of input received by user interface 660 may be a “swipe down” gesture. In response to receiving the input 672, the sequence 600 may transition from user interface 660 back to user interface 640. Alternatively, in some aspects, the sequence 600 may transition from user interface 660 to user interface 602c in response to input 672.
In some aspects, a swipe up 630 such as that illustrated with respect to content 620, may suspend ephemeral timers for any of the content 502a-d. Thus, any estimated deletion times for this content may be moved forward in time while the ephemeral timer(s) are suspended. Upon receiving the swipe down input 632, the ephemeral timer(s) for content within the sequence 502a-d may be resumed. Thus, between the time of a first input (e.g. 630) and a second input (e.g. 632), with respect to a first content of a sequence of content, one or more ephemeral timers for other content of the sequence of content may be suspended.
In block 910, a sequence of media to present on an electronic display is determined. In some aspects, the sequence of media is presented to a user on a touchscreen of an electronic device, such as a mobile device. In some aspects, the determination may be in response to a user interface selection input, selecting a source of the sequence of media. For example, a user may select an event gallery or an event story. The selected event gallery or event story may be the source for the sequence of media. The sequence of content may be defined by the event gallery or event story. For example, the sequence may be defined based on a sequence in which the media included in the gallery or story were added to the event gallery or event story. Alternatively, the sequence may be defined by a chronological order in which the media was created, edited, or captured. The sequence of media may include two or more media. The media may be any combination of videos, gifs, photos, documents, images, or any media type.
In block 920, a determination is made to present second media between two media of the sequence of media. In some aspects, the determination may be based on an elapsed time since a previous insertion of media into the sequence has been performed. In some aspects, the determination to insert the second media may be based on a content consumption rate of the user. For example, if the user is consuming content at a rate below a rate threshold, and an elapsed time since a previous insertion is above a time threshold, then a determination to insert the second media may be made, and process 900 may move to block 930. Otherwise, the insertion may not be performed, and process 900 may transition via off-page reference B to block 960.
In block 930, the second media is presented between the two media. As shown above with respect to
In block 940, a first input is received. As discussed above, the user interface 620 may be configured to receive at least two types of input. The input may be, in some aspects, a gesture entered on a touch screen display, such as that used by a smartphone.
Decision block 950 determines whether the input of block 940 requests additional media or requests to return to the sequence of media. If the input requests to return to the sequence of media, process 900 transitions through off-page reference B to present further media in the sequence, as explained below. If the input requests the presentation of additional media, process 900 moves from block 950 to block 960. As discussed above, the example sequence 600 may transition from the user interface 620 to the user interface 640 upon receiving a particular input, such as an exemplary “swipe up” gesture, such as input 630 in
Once presented, the user interface 640 may provide for at least two further inputs. The user interface 640 may be configured to, for example, receive a first input indicating that a return in user interface 620 is requested. A second input may indicate a transition to user interface 660 is requested.
After the additional media is presented in block 960, process 900 transitions via off page reference A to block 965 of
If further media is requested by the second input, process 900 moves from block 970 to block 975, which presents the further media. In some aspects, the further media may be presented in a user interface such as user interface 660, discussed above with respect to
Software Architecture
As used herein, the term “component” may refer to a device, a physical entity, or logic having boundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branch points, APIs, and/or other technologies that provide for the partitioning or modularization of particular processing or control functions. Components may be combined via their interfaces with other components to carry out a machine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardware unit designed for use with other components and a part of a program that usually performs a particular function of related functions.
Components may constitute either software components (e.g., code embodied on a machine-readable medium) or hardware components. A “hardware component” is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various exemplary embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computer system, a client computer system, or a server computer system) or one or more hardware components 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 component that operates to perform certain operations as described herein. A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically, electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, a hardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured to perform certain operations.
A hardware component may be a special-purpose processor, such as a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). A hardware component may also include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. For example, a hardware component may include software executed by a general-purpose processor or other programmable processor. Once configured by such software, hardware components become specific machines (or specific components of a machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configured functions and are no longer general-purpose processors. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware component 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.
A processor may be, or include, any circuit or virtual circuit (a physical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor) that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g., “commands,” “op codes,” “machine code,” etc.) and that produces corresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine. A processor may, for example, be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an ASIC, a Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), or any combination thereof. A processor may further be a multi-core processor having two or more independent processors (sometimes referred to as “cores”) that may execute instructions contemporaneously.
Accordingly, the phrase “hardware component” (or “hardware-implemented component”) 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 or to perform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments in which hardware components are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need not be configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processor configured by software to become a special-purpose processor, the general-purpose processor may be configured as respectively different special-purpose processors (e.g., comprising different hardware components) at different times. Software accordingly configures a particular processor or processors, for example, to constitute a particular hardware component at one instance of time and to constitute a different hardware component at a different instance of time. Hardware components can provide information to, and receive information from, other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardware components may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. In embodiments in which multiple hardware components are configured or instantiated at different times, communications between or among such hardware components may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple hardware components have access.
For example, one hardware component may perform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memory device to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardware component may then, at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output. Hardware components 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 components that operate to perform one or more operations or functions described herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component” refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors. Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partially processor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors being an example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or more processors or processor-implemented components.
Moreover, 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), with these operations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an API). The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed among the processors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some exemplary embodiments, the processors or processor-implemented components may be located in a single geographic location (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment, or a server farm). In other exemplary embodiments, the processors or processor-implemented components may be distributed across a number of geographic locations.
In the exemplary architecture of
The operating system 1102 may manage hardware resources and provide common services. The operating system 1102 may include, for example, a kernel 1122, services 1124, and drivers 1126. The kernel 1122 may act as an abstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers. For example, the kernel 1122 may be responsible for memory management, processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management, networking, security settings, and so on. The services 1124 may provide other common services for the other software layers. The drivers 1126 are responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware. For instance, the drivers 1126 include display drivers, camera drivers, Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers, audio drivers, power management drivers, and so forth depending on the hardware configuration.
The libraries 1120 provide a common infrastructure that is used by the applications 1116 and/or other components and/or layers. The libraries 1120 provide functionality that allows other software components to perform tasks in an easier fashion than by interfacing directly with the underlying operating system 1102 functionality (e.g., kernel 1122, services 1124, and/or drivers 1126). The libraries 1120 may include system libraries 1144 (e.g., C standard library) that may provide functions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions, mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 1120 may include API libraries 1146 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation of various media formats such as MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, and PNG), graphics libraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework that may be used to render 2D and 3D graphic content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite that may provide various relational database functions), web libraries (e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsing functionality), and the like. The libraries 1120 may also include a wide variety of other libraries 1148 to provide many other APIs to the applications 1116 and other software components/modules.
The frameworks/middleware 1118 provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may be used by the applications 1116 and/or other software components/modules. For example, the frameworks/middleware 1118 may provide various graphic user interface (GUI) functions, high-level resource management, high-level location services, and so forth. The frameworks/middleware 1118 may provide a broad spectrum of other APIs that may be utilized by the applications 1116 and/or other software components/modules, some of which may be specific to a particular operating system 1102 or platform.
The applications 1116 include built-in applications 1138 and/or third-party applications 1140. Examples of representative built-in applications 1138 may include, but are not limited to, a contacts application, a browser application, a book reader application, a location application, a media application, a messaging application, and/or a game application. The third-party applications 1140 may include an application developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software development kit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform, and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such as IOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. The third-party applications 1140 may invoke the API calls 1108 provided by the mobile operating system (such as the operating system 1102) to facilitate functionality described herein.
The applications 1116 may use built-in operating system functions (e.g., kernel 1122, services 1124, and/or drivers 1126), libraries 1120, and frameworks/middleware 1118 to create user interfaces to interact with users of the system. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systems interactions with a user may occur through a presentation layer, such as the presentation layer 1114. In these systems, the application/component “logic” can be separated from the aspects of the application/component that interact with a user. The applications 1116 may include instructions 1104 that implement the methods discussed herein, such as those discussed above with respect to
Exemplary Machine
The machine 1200 may include processors 1204, memory/storage 1206, and I/O components 1218, which may be configured to communicate with each other such as via a bus 1202. The memory/storage 1206 may include a memory 1214, such as a main memory, or other memory storage, and a storage unit 1216, both accessible to the processors 1204 such as via the bus 1202. The storage unit 1216 and memory 1214 store the instructions 1210 embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1210 may also reside, completely or partially, within the memory 1214, within the storage unit 1216, within at least one of the processors 1204 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), or any suitable combination thereof, during execution thereof by the machine 1200. Accordingly, the memory 1214, the storage unit 1216, and the memory of the processors 1204 are examples of machine-readable media.
As used herein, the term “machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable medium,” or the like may refer to any component, device, or other tangible medium able to store instructions and data temporarily or permanently. Examples of such media may include, but are not limited to, random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory, optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types of storage (e.g., Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)), and/or any suitable combination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers) able to store instructions. The term “machine-readable medium” may also be taken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media, that is capable of storing instructions (e.g., code) for execution by a machine, such that the instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the machine, cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium” may refer to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based” storage systems or storage networks that include multiple storage apparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium” excludes transitory signals per se.
The I/O components 1218 may include a wide variety of components to provide a user interface for receiving input, providing output, producing output, transmitting information, exchanging information, capturing measurements, and so on. The specific I/O components 1218 that are included in the user interface of a particular machine 1200 will depend on the type of machine. For example, portable machines such as mobile phones will likely include a touch input device or other such input mechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely not include such a touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 1218 may include many other components that are not shown in
In further exemplary embodiments, the I/O components 1218 may include biometric components 1230, motion components 1234, environment components 1236, or position components 1238, as well as a wide array of other components. For example, the biometric components 1230 may include components to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facial expressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measure biosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voice identification, retinal identification, facial identification, fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram-based identification), and the like. The motion components 1234 may include acceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensor components, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth. The environment components 1236 may include, for example, illumination sensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components (e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature), humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g., barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphones that detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g., infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gas detection sensors to detect concentrations of hazardous gases for safety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other components that may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding to a surrounding physical environment. The position components 1238 may include location sensor components (e.g., a GPS receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may be derived), orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.
Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies. The I/O components 1218 may include communication components 1240 operable to couple the machine 1200 to a network 1232 or devices 1220 via a coupling 1224 and a coupling 1222 respectively. For example, the communication components 1240 may include a network interface component or other suitable device to interface with the network 1232. In further examples, the communication components 1240 may include wired communication components, wireless communication components, cellular communication components, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components to provide communication via other modalities. The devices 1220 may be another machine or any of a wide variety of peripheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a USB).
Moreover, the communication components 1240 may detect identifiers or include components operable to detect identifiers. For example, the communication components 1240 may include Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components, optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detect one-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code, multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Aztec code, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF4111, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2D bar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components (e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, a variety of information may be derived via the communication components 1240, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geo-location, location via Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting an NFC beacon signal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.
Where a phrase similar to “at least one of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” or “one or more of A, B, and C” is used, it is intended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that A alone may be present in an embodiment, B alone may be present in an embodiment, C alone may be present in an embodiment, or any combination of the elements A, B, and C may be present in a single embodiment; for example, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C may be present.
Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. These and other changes or modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and data as described below and in the drawings that form a part of this document:
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/042,685, filed on Jul. 23, 2018, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/539,345, filed Jul. 31, 2017, and entitled “SYSTEMS, DEVICES, AND METHODS FOR PROGRESSIVE ATTACHMENTS.” The contents of these prior applications are considered part of this application, and are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
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