Patent Application
20150143260
This disclosure generally relates to presentation of content on mobile devices.
A social-networking system, which may include a social-networking website, may enable its users (such as persons or organizations) to interact with it and with each other through it. The social-networking system may, with input from a user, create and store in the social-networking system a user profile associated with the user. The user profile may include demographic information, communication-channel information, and information on personal interests of the user. The social-networking system may also, with input from a user, create and store a record of relationships of the user with other users of the social-networking system, as well as provide services (e.g. wall posts, photo-sharing, event organization, messaging, games, or advertisements) to facilitate social interaction between or among users.
The social-networking system may transmit over one or more networks content or messages related to its services to a mobile or other computing device of a user. A user may also install software applications on a mobile or other computing device of the user for accessing a user profile of the user and other data within the social-networking system. The social-networking system may generate a personalized set of content objects to display to a user, such as a newsfeed of aggregated stories of other users connected to the user.
A mobile computing device—such as a smartphone, tablet computer, or laptop computer—may include functionality for determining its location, direction, or orientation, such as a GPS receiver, compass, or gyroscope. Such a device may also include functionality for wireless communication, such as BLUETOOTH communication, near-field communication (NFC), or infrared (IR) communication or communication with wireless local area networks (WLANs) or cellular-telephone network. Such a device may also include one or more cameras, scanners, touchscreens, microphones, or speakers. Mobile computing devices may also execute software applications, such as games, web browsers, or social-networking applications. With social-networking applications, users may connect, communicate, and share information with other users in their social networks.
In particular embodiments, a state machine model may be used to implement one or more changes in a user interface of an application. A client computing device may receive an input associated with a user interface of an application (e.g. from a user of the computing device, from the device itself, or from a social-networking system). The user interface may include a plurality of elements. One or more components may notify a state machine associated with the application about the input, and the state machine may, if applicable, transition the application from a first state to a second state based on the input. The state machine may notify one or more listeners associated with the application (and registered to receive information) when the second state of the application is entered. The registered listeners may directly or indirectly implement one or more changes to one or more elements of the user interface in response to the transition to the second state of the application. A registered listener may, for example, provide information to a component of the application directly, provide information to a physics animation system, or provide information to a time-based animation system. The component, physics animation system, or time-based animation system may then change the behavior of one or more elements of the user interface.
Mobile device many include a communication component coupled to antennae 14A-B for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-based network or a wireless NIC (WNIC), wireless adapter for communicating with a wireless network, such as for example a WI-FI network or modem for communicating with a cellular network, such third generation mobile telecommunications (3G), or Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. This disclosure contemplates any suitable network and any suitable communication component for it. As an example and not by way of limitation, mobile device 10 may communicate with an ad hoc network, a personal area network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of the Internet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portions of one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As another example, mobile device 10 may communicate with a wireless PAN (WPAN) (such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network, a WI-MAX network, a cellular telephone network (such as, for example, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), 3G, or LTE network), or other suitable wireless network or a combination of two or more of these. Mobile computing device 10 may include any suitable communication component for any of these networks, where appropriate.
As shown in
In particular embodiments, the notifications and/or feed items 240 may be updated based at least in part on interactions with the social-networking system, as illustrated in
As an example and not by way of limitation, the incoming messages may include e-mail, Short Message Service (SMS) or Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) messages, voice mail, missed telephone calls, instant messages (IM), messages provided by a feature of the social-networking system, etc. As another example, social-action notifications may include notification of actions by other users on the social-networking system that relate to the user, such as for example, friend requests, social events, or social calendars. As another example, social-action notifications may include notifications of actions by other users on the social-networking system, such as for example, status updates, comments, blog posts, or “Likes” of other users the social-networking system. In the example of
In particular embodiments, social-action notifications may be periodically pushed (e.g. wherein transmission is initiated by a server without first receiving a request from mobile computing device 10) by, for example, a server of the social-networking system, to mobile computing device 10. Alternatively or in addition, mobile device 10 may pull (e.g. wherein transmission is initiated by mobile computing device 10 sending a request to a server) social-action notifications to mobile computing device 10. As an example and not by way of limitation, the notifications and/or feed items 240 may be natively generated from applications installed on mobile computing device 10, generated in connection with the social-networking system, or generated by third-party systems, such as for example, a news aggregator. Although this disclosure illustrates and describes a socialized dash with an area for displaying particular content objects, this disclosure contemplates a socialized dash with an area for displaying any suitable content objects, such as for example, stock price alerts, news notifications, or RSS (really simple syndication) feeds.
Particular embodiments of a socialized dash may comprise a “cover feed” interface 250 (as shown in
Cover feed 250 may comprise one or more content boards, each of which may incorporate content (such as text, video, an image for display in the background (as shown throughout
As an example and not by way of limitation, the background image of cover feed 250 may be a picture associated with the social-network ID of the user, such as for example, a profile picture. In some embodiments, the background image of cover feed 250 may be a picture associated with another user or entity or concept represented by a node in a social graph associated with the social network, with a sponsored story or advertisement, or with other third-party content, such as a background image, icon, logo, or avatar provided by a third-party website or a screenshot of a third-party website. In some embodiments, the background image of cover feed 250 may be a video or animated image. In some embodiments, in place of (or in addition to) the background image, the socialized dash may present audio or other multimedia effects.
In particular embodiments, the socialized dash may be displayed in different device states (e.g. upon locking/unlocking mobile computing device 10, upon pressing “home” button 212 in navigation bar 210, upon powering on mobile computing device 10, upon closing an application, upon switching mobile computing device 10 to silent, or upon disabling/enabling network connectivity). In particular embodiments, the particular content board(s) displayed in cover feed 250 may vary depending on device state (e.g. if the device has just been powered on, display a content board with an image stored by the user to their user profile, or if the device is running low on battery or does not have network connectivity, cease to download additional content to generate new content boards and just utilize cached content boards).
In the example illustrated in
As described above, the socialized dash may provide social interaction features, such as, for example, one or more content-related social-networking interactive elements 242 that correspond to one or more social-networking functions that may be performed in relation to the particular content board being displayed in cover feed 250 and/or one or more user-related social-networking interactive elements 244 that correspond to one or more social-networking functions that are related to one or more particular social-networking users (and may or may not be related to any particular content board(s)). In particular embodiments, a user-related social-networking interactive element 244 associated with a particular user may also be displayed with a particular content board where the particular content board has some relation to the associated user (e.g. content presented in the content board involves, relates to, or otherwise identifies the user).
As an example and not by way of limitation, content-board-related social-networking interactive elements 242 may correspond to social-networking functionalities, such as for example, a friend feature (related to social-networking users tagged/identified in the content board), a “Like” feature (to “like” the content board), or a comment feature (to comment on the content board), as illustrated in the example wireframes of
User-related social-networking interactive elements 244 may provide one or more social-networking functionalities related to one or more identified users. For example, as shown in
In particular embodiments, a messaging functionality of user-related social-networking interactive element 244 may include, for example, displaying the most recent message sent by the identified user, writing a message to the identified user, replying to a message from the identified user, viewing the number of unread messages from the identified user, changing messaging permissions with respect to the identified user, declining and/or deleting messages from the identified user, updating attributes associated with the user's relationship to the identified user (e.g. labeling the relationship as “Soccer Teammate” and/or categorizing the relationship as “Married To”), sending/accepting/refusing a social-networking invitation to connect to the identified user, viewing profile information for the identified user, or deleting the identified user from the user's social graph. Other functionalities may be attached to a user-related social-networking interactive element 244 associated with an identified user, such as location-related functionalities (e.g. locate the identified user's current location on a map, or map directions to the user's address), calendar-related functionalities (e.g. bring up one or more events for which the identified user is the sender/recipient, or display the identified user's RSVP status), or any other type of user-related social-networking functionality (e.g. showing a score or status in relation to a social-networking game or application).
User-related social-networking interactive elements 244 may appear as an overlay over cover feed 250, as shown in
In particular embodiments, the user of mobile computing device 10 may interact with the social-networking system through social interaction features 242 and 244 without launching an application associated with the social-networking system or using a web browser. As an example and not by way of limitation, the user of mobile computing device 10 may write a message to another user of the social-networking system by tapping on a particular user-related social-networking interactive element 244 of the socialized dash. In particular embodiments, the message from the user of mobile computing device 10 written using social-networking interactive element 244 may be sent to the social-networking system in real-time using a communication protocol, as described above. Although this disclosure illustrates and describes a socialized dash with social interaction features corresponding to particular functionalities of particular computing systems, this disclosure contemplates a socialized dash with any suitable interactive elements corresponding to any suitable functionality of any suitable computing system, such as for example, one or more social-networking or third-party system.
In particular embodiments, the user of mobile computing device 10 may interact with the social-networking system through social interaction features 242 and/or 244 and/or notifications and/or feed items 240 directly from the socialized dash without launching or executing an application. As an example and not by way of limitation, the user of mobile computing device 10 may comment on or “like” a status update on the social-networking system through a social-networking interactive element 242 without launching an application associated with the social-networking system. In particular embodiments, the notifications and/or feed items 240 may include options that enable the user of mobile device 10 to interact with the incoming messages. As an example and not by way of limitation, if the incoming message is a notification of a SMS message, there may be options corresponding to actions such as for example “reply”, “forward”, or “delete”, from which the user of mobile device may select a particular action to perform in response to the SMS message, where the particular action may cause another application to be launched (e.g. a SMS application). As another example, if the incoming message is a newsfeed item that includes a photo, the user may cause the photo to expand to cover most or all of the display area through a pre-determined touch gesture, and then perform social-network interactions related to the photo, such as for example, comment, like, share, etc.
As another example, a persistent UI or socialized dash may be provided for display on mobile computing device 10 in response to a user actuating a “home” button 212, after using or closing an application executed on mobile computing device 10, after completing a telephone call on mobile computing device 10, or in response to any suitable action. In particular embodiments, the socialized dash may be accessed at any time, including during interaction with an application, by performing a pre-determined gesture detected through touch sensor 12. As an example and not by way of limitation, the user may access the socialized dash by tapping and holding the top of the display area and pulling down the socialized dash, thereby revealing the social-networking interactive elements and incoming messages of socialized dash, described below. Although this disclosure illustrates and describes a particular type of computing device, this disclosure contemplates a socialized dash implemented on any suitable type of computing device, such as for example, a personal computer, tablet computer, connected television, or a smartphone.
In particular embodiments, the socialized dash may function as an application launcher, be integrated with, or work in conjunction with an application launcher. In the example of
In particular embodiments, the application launcher functionality of the socialized dash may be accessed by performing a pre-determined touch gesture, such as for example, tension scrolling of the socialized dash. As an example and not by way of limitation, tension scrolling may comprise performing a touch gesture to scroll up through the notifications and/or newsfeed items (e.g. as shown in
As described herein, in particular embodiments, the socialized dash may be displayed in different device states (e.g. upon locking/unlocking mobile computing device 10, upon pressing “home” button 212 in navigation bar 210, upon powering on mobile computing device 10, upon closing an application or interface, or upon performing any suitable gesture). In particular embodiments, one or more components of the socialized dash including, for example, features or functionalities of the socialized dash (e.g. app launcher, chat interface, messaging functionality), one or more interactive elements of the socialized dash (e.g. content-related or user-related social-networking interactive elements), or one or more content objects or notifications in the socialized dash (including, e.g., those displayed in the cover feed interface of the socialized dash) may interact with (e.g. be affected by, affect, depend on, or drive) a device state (e.g. of mobile computing device 10 and including, for example, a mode of the device) or an event or trigger (e.g. a gesture provided as input to the device or information pushed to the device from a social-networking system). In particular embodiments, a state machine model may be employed to model the different states that the socialized dash (and its components) may take and the different transitions that may occur between states (e.g. as a result of an event or trigger).
An example state machine model for the socialized dash is shown in
Although this example only shows, for ease of illustration, four states, this disclosure contemplates any suitable number or type of states, sub-states, events or triggers and any suitable hierarchy in a state machine model for an application (e.g. for the socialized dash). Other such states (not illustrated in this example) may, for example, include a “paused” or “resumed” state (e.g. corresponding to a pause or resumption of the presentation of content via the cover feed user interface), as well as a “home” state (e.g. corresponding to a home or default screen of the socialized dash on the mobile computing device) or a “bauble expanded” state (e.g. corresponding to a selection of a control bauble that may be a shortcut to accessing features including the app launcher or chat interface). In particular embodiments, a state machine model for the socialized dash may be a hierarchical model, and certain states of the model may, for example, be child states (or sub-states) of a parent state, inheriting behaviors or properties from the parent state. For example, in the example illustrated in
Although particular examples illustrate transitions occurring based on particular gestures or inputs provided by a user of the device, any suitable gesture or input provided to the device (whether by a user or another source) may cause a transition. For example, gestures that may cause a transition may include a single tap, double tap, short press, long press, slide, swipe, flip, pinch open, pinch close, drag, or any other suitable gestures corresponding to various types of touch input events. Other types of user input may use an input/output device (e.g. a mouse or a track pad). As another example, a user may also provide microphone-based input (e.g. voice commands), stylus-based input (e.g. touch or proximity), camera-based input (e.g. taking a picture or a video, or simply aiming the camera), fingerprint-reader input (e.g. to unlock the device), gyroscopic input (e.g. a shaking of the device to unlock it, or a tilting of the device to transition to another content card in the cover feed), or any other suitable input to the device, and this input may trigger a transition in a state machine model. In addition to user input, input from the device itself (e.g. battery level, location information, processing load, or any other suitable information gathered from any of the device's sensors, processors, or hardware or software modules) may trigger a transition in a state machine model. As yet another example, information pushed to the device from a social-networking system (e.g. a notification that a user of the device has a new message from a friend) may also cause a transition.
In particular embodiments, one or more components of the socialized dash may provide information to the state machine (e.g. to a version of the state machine model implemented, for example, in software). In other embodiments, one or more components may register one or more listeners to the state machine to identify when particular states are entered. In yet other embodiments, one or more components may provide information to the state machine and other components (or the same components) may register one or more listeners to the state machine. A component may provide listener functionality as well as provide functionality with a publisher capable of providing information to the state machine. A component may, for example, include any feature or functionality of the socialized dash (e.g. app launcher, chat interface, messaging functionality, cover feed), one or more interactive elements of the socialized dash (e.g. content-related or user-related social-networking interactive elements, icons, buttons, or control baubles), or one or more content objects or notifications in the socialized dash (including, e.g., those displayed in the cover feed interface of the socialized dash). Upon receiving input (e.g. from a user of the device, from information pushed to the device, or from the device itself), a component may inform the state machine of the input, and the state machine may determine what, if any, transitions may occur from the present state based on the input received. Once the state machine determines what state to enter (or remain in) based on the information it receives from one or more components, the state machine may inform all listeners registered to listen to it that a particular state (e.g. a new state) is being entered. Listeners for various components (e.g. the app launcher and cover feed) may then receive this information from the state machine and drive one or more interactions (e.g. changes) in the user interface of the socialized dash, either directly or indirectly.
For example, if the socialized dash is in the “lockscreen” state 310 and if, for example, the user presses the “home” button to open the app launcher, then a component associated with the “home” button may notify the state machine of the user's input. The state machine may, for example, determine whether the home button is currently disabled or not. If the home button is enabled, the state machine may determine that this input triggers a transition event to a state in which the app launcher is displayed (e.g. the “launcher” state 340). The state machine will make the transition to the “launcher” state 340, and it will notify any registered listeners that the “launcher” state 340 has been entered. One listener may, for example, be associated with the app launcher itself. Another listener may, for example, be associated with the cover feed (which may, for example, still display information in the “lockscreen” state 310). The listener associated with the app launcher may drive the display of multiple icons (e.g. as displayed in
As another example, if the socialized dash is in a “lockscreen” state and if, for example, the user performs a gesture (e.g. an upward flick on a lock icon that appears, for example, when a control bauble is pressed and held), to open an app launcher, then a component associated with the lock icon may notify the state machine of the user's gesture. The state machine may, for example, determine whether the lock icon is disabled or not, and if it is enabled, the state machine may determine that this input triggers a transition event to a state in which the app launcher is displayed (e.g. a “launcher” state). The state machine will make the transition to the “launcher” state, and it will notify any registered listeners that the “launcher” state has been entered. One listener may, for example, be associated with the app launcher itself. Another listener may, for example, be associated with the cover feed. The listener associated with the app launcher may drive the display of multiple icons (e.g. as displayed in
As another example, if the socialized dash is in a “lockscreen” state and the user performs a gesture (e.g. a swipe on a lock icon that appears when a control bauble is pressed and held), then a component associated with the lock icon may notify the state machine of the user's gesture. The state machine may, for example, transition to the “feed” state and notify any registered listeners of this transition. One listener may, for example, be associated with the cover feed and may drive the display of more information on a story that was previously displayed while in the “lockscreen” state, such as who “liked” or commented on the story (e.g. as illustrated by element 256 in
As another example, if the device receives one or more new notifications (such as, for example, 240A-240E received from a social-networking system), these may only be displayed when the socialized dash is in a “lockscreen” state (e.g. similar to that illustrated in
As another example, if the socialized dash is in the “feed” state and the user presses a control bauble (e.g. 220) and then presses an icon associated with the app launcher (e.g. 224), then a component associated with the app launcher icon may notify the state machine of the user's input. The state machine may transition to the “launcher” state and notify one or more registered listeners about this transition. One listener may, for example, be associated with the app launcher itself and may drive the display of multiple icons. Another listener may, for example, be the cover feed and may cause any image animation in the cover feed to be paused, as well as cause text (such as the status message displayed at the top of the display screen in
Example code for implementing the state machine as a global singleton Java object (corresponding to the example in
As described herein, listeners to the state machine may drive one or more interactions (e.g. changes) in the user interface of the socialized dash, either directly or indirectly. As an example, a listener registered to listen to the state machine may be associated with an application such as a messaging application, and when the state machine transitions to a state in which the messaging application is open (e.g. overlaid on top of the cover feed), the listener may directly provide the messaging application this information. A messaging application interface may immediately (e.g. instantaneously) display on the screen of the device, without any transition effects. As another example, when the state machine transitions to a state in which the messaging application is open, the messaging application's listener may provide a time-based animation system with this state information. The time-based animation system may, after a delay (e.g. 0.5 seconds) then provide the information to the messaging application or may provide the information to the application immediately, with the stipulation that a delay be in place before displaying the interface. In this example, the listener indirectly drives the appearance of the messaging application interface, as a time-based animation system receives the information from the listener and passes it along to the application. As another example, as described herein, a listener may directly provide information regarding the current state to an application such as the cover feed, and the application may take any suitable action including pausing animations, adjusting (e.g. summarizing or truncating) text, adjusting the positions or display of one or more notifications, providing more information for display (e.g. “likes” or comments), causing one or more icons or baubles to appear or disappear, darkening or brightening a background, or fading text.
In particular embodiments, one or more listeners registered to listen to the state machine may provide information regarding a state (or transitions to a state) to a physics animation system or engine, which resolves physics related to an animation sequence (e.g. for a transition) for one or more elements presented in the user interface. The physics animation system or engine drives one or more user interface interactions (e.g. changes) for one or more user interface elements. User interface elements may, for example, include interactive elements, notifications or feed items, control baubles, buttons, cover feed stories, content objects, text, or icons. The animation sequence may be an animation for any property that changes value including, for example, position, scale, transparency, or dimension. As an example, if a user taps a user-related social-networking interactive element (e.g. 244), the state machine may transition to a state in which the messaging interface is active (e.g. displayed as an overlay over the cover feed). Each interactive element 244 may, for example, have a listener registered to listen to the state machine. The listener for a particular interactive element 244 may output the state and/or information associated with the state (e.g. the messaging interface being active, which corresponds to a particular final location for each interactive element 244, such as along the top of the display screen, as in
This disclosure contemplates any suitable network 510. As an example and not by way of limitation, one or more portions of network 510 may include 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), a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a cellular telephone network, or a combination of two or more of these. Network 510 may include one or more networks 510.
Links 550 may connect client system 530, social-networking system 560, and third-party system 570 to communication network 510 or to each other. This disclosure contemplates any suitable links 550. In particular embodiments, one or more links 550 include one or more wireline (such as for example Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS)), wireless (such as for example Wi-Fi or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), or optical (such as for example Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) or Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH)) links. In particular embodiments, one or more links 550 each include an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a VPN, a LAN, a WLAN, a WAN, a WWAN, a MAN, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the PSTN, a cellular technology-based network, a satellite communications technology-based network, another link 550, or a combination of two or more such links 550. Links 550 need not necessarily be the same throughout network environment 500. One or more first links 550 may differ in one or more respects from one or more second links 550.
In particular embodiments, client system 530 may be an electronic device including hardware, software, or embedded logic components or a combination of two or more such components and capable of carrying out the appropriate functionalities implemented or supported by client system 530. As an example and not by way of limitation, a client system 530 may include a computer system such as a desktop computer, notebook or laptop computer, netbook, a tablet computer, e-book reader, GPS device, camera, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld electronic device, cellular telephone, smartphone, other suitable electronic device, or any suitable combination thereof. This disclosure contemplates any suitable client systems 530. A client system 530 may enable a network user at client system 530 to access network 510. A client system 530 may enable its user to communicate with other users at other client systems 530.
In particular embodiments, client system 530 may include a web browser 532, such as MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER, GOOGLE CHROME or MOZILLA FIREFOX, and may have one or more add-ons, plug-ins, or other extensions, such as TOOLBAR or YAHOO TOOLBAR. A user at client system 530 may enter a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or other address directing the web browser 532 to a particular server (such as server 562, or a server associated with a third-party system 570), and the web browser 532 may generate a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request and communicate the HTTP request to server. The server may accept the HTTP request and communicate to client system 530 one or more Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) files responsive to the HTTP request. Client system 530 may render a webpage based on the HTML files from the server for presentation to the user. This disclosure contemplates any suitable webpage files. As an example and not by way of limitation, webpages may render from HTML files, Extensible Hyper Text Markup Language (XHTML) files, or Extensible Markup Language (XML) files, according to particular needs. Such pages may also execute scripts such as, for example and without limitation, those written in JAVASCRIPT, JAVA, MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT, combinations of markup language and scripts such as AJAX (Asynchronous JAVASCRIPT and XML), and the like. Herein, reference to a webpage encompasses one or more corresponding webpage files (which a browser may use to render the webpage) and vice versa, where appropriate.
In particular embodiments, social-networking system 560 may be a network-addressable computing system that can host an online social network. Social-networking system 560 may generate, store, receive, and send social-networking data, such as, for example, user-profile data, concept-profile data, social-graph information, or other suitable data related to the online social network. Social-networking system 560 may be accessed by the other components of network environment 500 either directly or via network 510. In particular embodiments, social-networking system 560 may include one or more servers 562. Each server 562 may be a unitary server or a distributed server spanning multiple computers or multiple datacenters. Servers 562 may be of various types, such as, for example and without limitation, web server, news server, mail server, message server, advertising server, file server, application server, exchange server, database server, proxy server, another server suitable for performing functions or processes described herein, or any combination thereof. In particular embodiments, each server 562 may include hardware, software, or embedded logic components or a combination of two or more such components for carrying out the appropriate functionalities implemented or supported by server 562. In particular embodiments, social-networking system 564 may include one or more data stores 564. Data stores 564 may be used to store various types of information. In particular embodiments, the information stored in data stores 564 may be organized according to specific data structures. In particular embodiments, each data store 564 may be a relational, columnar, correlation, or other suitable database. Although this disclosure describes or illustrates particular types of databases, this disclosure contemplates any suitable types of databases. Particular embodiments may provide interfaces that enable a client system 530, a social-networking system 560, or a third-party system 570 to manage, retrieve, modify, add, or delete, the information stored in data store 564.
In particular embodiments, social-networking system 560 may store one or more social graphs in one or more data stores 564. In particular embodiments, a social graph may include multiple nodes—which may include multiple user nodes (each corresponding to a particular user) or multiple concept nodes (each corresponding to a particular concept)—and multiple edges connecting the nodes. Social-networking system 560 may provide users of the online social network the ability to communicate and interact with other users. In particular embodiments, users may join the online social network via social-networking system 560 and then add connections (e.g. relationships) to a number of other users of social-networking system 560 whom they want to be connected to. Herein, the term “friend” may refer to any other user of social-networking system 560 with whom a user has formed a connection, association, or relationship via social-networking system 560.
In particular embodiments, social-networking system 560 may provide users with the ability to take actions on various types of items or objects, supported by social-networking system 560. As an example and not by way of limitation, the items and objects may include groups or social networks to which users of social-networking system 560 may belong, events or calendar entries in which a user might be interested, computer-based applications that a user may use, transactions that allow users to buy or sell items via the service, interactions with advertisements that a user may perform, or other suitable items or objects. A user may interact with anything that is capable of being represented in social-networking system 560 or by an external system of third-party system 570, which is separate from social-networking system 560 and coupled to social-networking system 560 via a network 510.
In particular embodiments, social-networking system 560 may be capable of linking a variety of entities. As an example and not by way of limitation, social-networking system 560 may enable users to interact with each other as well as receive content from third-party systems 570 or other entities, or to allow users to interact with these entities through an application programming interfaces (API) or other communication channels.
In particular embodiments, a third-party system 570 may include one or more types of servers, one or more data stores, one or more interfaces, including but not limited to APIs, one or more web services, one or more content sources, one or more networks, or any other suitable components, e.g., that servers may communicate with. A third-party system 570 may be operated by a different entity from an entity operating social-networking system 560. In particular embodiments, however, social-networking system 560 and third-party systems 570 may operate in conjunction with each other to provide social-networking services to users of social-networking system 560 or third-party systems 570. In this sense, social-networking system 560 may provide a platform, or backbone, which other systems, such as third-party systems 570, may use to provide social-networking services and functionality to users across the Internet.
In particular embodiments, a third-party system 570 may include a third-party content object provider. A third-party content object provider may include one or more sources of content objects, which may be communicated to a client system 530. As an example and not by way of limitation, content objects may include information regarding things or activities of interest to the user, such as, for example, movie show times, movie reviews, restaurant reviews, restaurant menus, product information and reviews, or other suitable information. As another example and not by way of limitation, content objects may include incentive content objects, such as coupons, discount tickets, gift certificates, or other suitable incentive objects.
In particular embodiments, social-networking system 560 also includes user-generated content objects, which may enhance a user's interactions with social-networking system 560. User-generated content may include anything a user can add, upload, send, or “post” to social-networking system 560. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user communicates posts to social-networking system 560 from a client system 530. Posts may include data such as status updates or other textual data, location information, photos, videos, links, music or other similar data or media. Content may also be added to social-networking system 560 by a third-party through a “communication channel,” such as a newsfeed or stream.
In particular embodiments, social-networking system 560 may include a variety of servers, sub-systems, programs, modules, logs, and data stores. In particular embodiments, social-networking system 560 may include one or more of the following: a web server, action logger, API-request server, relevance-and-ranking engine, content-object classifier, notification controller, action log, third-party-content-object-exposure log, inference module, authorization/privacy server, search module, advertisement-targeting module, user-interface module, user-profile store, connection store, third-party content store, or location store. Social-networking system 560 may also include suitable components such as network interfaces, security mechanisms, load balancers, failover servers, management-and-network-operations consoles, other suitable components, or any suitable combination thereof. In particular embodiments, social-networking system 560 may include one or more user-profile stores for storing user profiles. A user profile may include, for example, biographic information, demographic information, behavioral information, social information, or other types of descriptive information, such as work experience, educational history, hobbies or preferences, interests, affinities, or location. Interest information may include interests related to one or more categories. Categories may be general or specific. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a user “likes” an article about a brand of shoes the category may be the brand, or the general category of “shoes” or “clothing.” A connection store may be used for storing connection information about users. The connection information may indicate users who have similar or common work experience, group memberships, hobbies, educational history, or are in any way related or share common attributes. The connection information may also include user-defined connections between different users and content (both internal and external). A web server may be used for linking social-networking system 560 to one or more client systems 530 or one or more third-party system 570 via network 510. The web server may include a mail server or other messaging functionality for receiving and routing messages between social-networking system 560 and one or more client systems 530. An API-request server may allow a third-party system 570 to access information from social-networking system 560 by calling one or more APIs. An action logger may be used to receive communications from a web server about a user's actions on or off social-networking system 560. In conjunction with the action log, a third-party-content-object log may be maintained of user exposures to third-party-content objects. A notification controller may provide information regarding content objects to a client system 530. Information may be pushed to a client system 530 as notifications, or information may be pulled from client system 530 responsive to a request received from client system 530. Authorization servers may be used to enforce one or more privacy settings of the users of social-networking system 560. A privacy setting of a user determines how particular information associated with a user can be shared. The authorization server may allow users to opt in to or opt out of having their actions logged by social-networking system 560 or shared with other systems (e.g. third-party system 570), such as, for example, by setting appropriate privacy settings. Third-party-content-object stores may be used to store content objects received from third parties, such as a third-party system 570. Location stores may be used for storing location information received from client systems 530 associated with users. Advertisement-pricing modules may combine social information, the current time, location information, or other suitable information to provide relevant advertisements, in the form of notifications, to a user.
In particular embodiments, a user node 602 may correspond to a user of social-networking system 160. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user may be an individual (human user), an entity (e.g. an enterprise, business, or third-party application), or a group (e.g. of individuals or entities) that interacts or communicates with or over social-networking system 160. In particular embodiments, when a user registers for an account with social-networking system 160, social-networking system 160 may create a user node 602 corresponding to the user, and store the user node 602 in one or more data stores. Users and user nodes 602 described herein may, where appropriate, refer to registered users and user nodes 602 associated with registered users. In addition or as an alternative, users and user nodes 602 described herein may, where appropriate, refer to users that have not registered with social-networking system 160. In particular embodiments, a user node 602 may be associated with information provided by a user or information gathered by various systems, including social-networking system 160. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user may provide his or her name, profile picture, contact information, birth date, sex, marital status, family status, employment, education background, preferences, interests, or other demographic information. In particular embodiments, a user node 602 may be associated with one or more data objects corresponding to information associated with a user. In particular embodiments, a user node 602 may correspond to one or more webpages.
In particular embodiments, a concept node 604 may correspond to a concept. As an example and not by way of limitation, a concept may correspond to a place (such as, for example, a movie theater, restaurant, landmark, or city); a website (such as, for example, a website associated with social-network system 160 or a third-party website associated with a web-application server); an entity (such as, for example, a person, business, group, sports team, or celebrity); a resource (such as, for example, an audio file, video file, digital photo, text file, structured document, or application) which may be located within social-networking system 160 or on an external server, such as a web-application server; real or intellectual property (such as, for example, a sculpture, painting, movie, game, song, idea, photograph, or written work); a game; an activity; an idea or theory; another suitable concept; or two or more such concepts. A concept node 604 may be associated with information of a concept provided by a user or information gathered by various systems, including social-networking system 160. As an example and not by way of limitation, information of a concept may include a name or a title; one or more images (e.g. an image of the cover page of a book); a location (e.g. an address or a geographical location); a website (which may be associated with a URL); contact information (e.g. a phone number or an email address); other suitable concept information; or any suitable combination of such information. In particular embodiments, a concept node 604 may be associated with one or more data objects corresponding to information associated with concept node 604. In particular embodiments, a concept node 604 may correspond to one or more webpages.
In particular embodiments, a node in social graph 600 may represent or be represented by a webpage (which may be referred to as a “profile page”). Profile pages may be hosted by or accessible to social-networking system 160. Profile pages may also be hosted on third-party websites associated with a third-party server 170. As an example and not by way of limitation, a profile page corresponding to a particular external webpage may be the particular external webpage and the profile page may correspond to a particular concept node 604. Profile pages may be viewable by all or a selected subset of other users. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user node 602 may have a corresponding user-profile page in which the corresponding user may add content, make declarations, or otherwise express himself or herself. As another example and not by way of limitation, a concept node 604 may have a corresponding concept-profile page in which one or more users may add content, make declarations, or express themselves, particularly in relation to the concept corresponding to concept node 604.
In particular embodiments, a concept node 604 may represent a third-party webpage or resource hosted by a third-party system 170. The third-party webpage or resource may include, among other elements, content, a selectable or other icon, or other inter-actable object (which may be implemented, for example, in JavaScript, AJAX, or PHP codes) representing an action or activity. As an example and not by way of limitation, a third-party webpage may include a selectable icon such as “like,” “check in,” “eat,” “recommend,” or another suitable action or activity. A user viewing the third-party webpage may perform an action by selecting one of the icons (e.g. “eat”), causing a client system 130 to send to social-networking system 160 a message indicating the user's action. In response to the message, social-networking system 160 may create an edge (e.g. an “eat” edge) between a user node 602 corresponding to the user and a concept node 604 corresponding to the third-party webpage or resource and store edge 606 in one or more data stores.
In particular embodiments, a pair of nodes in social graph 600 may be connected to each other by one or more edges 606. An edge 606 connecting a pair of nodes may represent a relationship between the pair of nodes. In particular embodiments, an edge 606 may include or represent one or more data objects or attributes corresponding to the relationship between a pair of nodes. As an example and not by way of limitation, a first user may indicate that a second user is a “friend” of the first user. In response to this indication, social-networking system 160 may send a “friend request” to the second user. If the second user confirms the “friend request,” social-networking system 160 may create an edge 606 connecting the first user's user node 602 to the second user's user node 602 in social graph 600 and store edge 606 as social-graph information in one or more of data stores 164. In the example of
In particular embodiments, an edge 606 between a user node 602 and a concept node 604 may represent a particular action or activity performed by a user associated with user node 602 toward a concept associated with a concept node 604. As an example and not by way of limitation, as illustrated in
In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may create an edge 606 between a user node 602 and a concept node 604 in social graph 600. As an example and not by way of limitation, a user viewing a concept-profile page (such as, for example, by using a web browser or a special-purpose application hosted by the user's client system 130) may indicate that he or she likes the concept represented by the concept node 604 by clicking or selecting a “Like” icon, which may cause the user's client system 130 to send to social-networking system 160 a message indicating the user's liking of the concept associated with the concept-profile page. In response to the message, social-networking system 160 may create an edge 606 between user node 602 associated with the user and concept node 604, as illustrated by “like” edge 606 between the user and concept node 604. In particular embodiments, social-networking system 160 may store an edge 606 in one or more data stores. In particular embodiments, an edge 606 may be automatically formed by social-networking system 160 in response to a particular user action. As an example and not by way of limitation, if a first user uploads a picture, watches a movie, or listens to a song, an edge 606 may be formed between user node 602 corresponding to the first user and concept nodes 604 corresponding to those concepts. Although this disclosure describes forming particular edges 606 in particular manners, this disclosure contemplates forming any suitable edges 606 in any suitable manner.
This disclosure contemplates any suitable number of computer systems 700. This disclosure contemplates computer system 700 taking any suitable physical form. As example and not by way of limitation, computer system 700 may be an embedded computer system, a system-on-chip (SOC), a single-board computer system (SBC) (such as, for example, a computer-on-module (COM) or system-on-module (SOM)), a desktop computer system, a laptop or notebook computer system, an interactive kiosk, a mainframe, a mesh of computer systems, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a server, a tablet computer system, or a combination of two or more of these. Where appropriate, computer system 700 may include one or more computer systems 700; be unitary or distributed; span multiple locations; span multiple machines; span multiple data centers; or reside in a cloud, which may include one or more cloud components in one or more networks. Where appropriate, one or more computer systems 700 may perform without substantial spatial or temporal limitation one or more steps of one or more methods described or illustrated herein. As an example and not by way of limitation, one or more computer systems 700 may perform in real time or in batch mode one or more steps of one or more methods described or illustrated herein. One or more computer systems 700 may perform at different times or at different locations one or more steps of one or more methods described or illustrated herein, where appropriate.
In particular embodiments, computer system 700 includes a processor 702, memory 704, storage 706, an input/output (I/O) interface 708, a communication interface 710, and a bus 712. Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particular computer system having a particular number of particular components in a particular arrangement, this disclosure contemplates any suitable computer system having any suitable number of any suitable components in any suitable arrangement.
In particular embodiments, processor 702 includes hardware for executing instructions, such as those making up a computer program. As an example and not by way of limitation, to execute instructions, processor 702 may retrieve (or fetch) the instructions from an internal register, an internal cache, memory 704, or storage 706; decode and execute them; and then write one or more results to an internal register, an internal cache, memory 704, or storage 706. In particular embodiments, processor 702 may include one or more internal caches for data, instructions, or addresses. This disclosure contemplates processor 702 including any suitable number of any suitable internal caches, where appropriate. As an example and not by way of limitation, processor 702 may include one or more instruction caches, one or more data caches, and one or more translation lookaside buffers (TLBs). Instructions in the instruction caches may be copies of instructions in memory 704 or storage 706, and the instruction caches may speed up retrieval of those instructions by processor 702. Data in the data caches may be copies of data in memory 704 or storage 706 for instructions executing at processor 702 to operate on; the results of previous instructions executed at processor 702 for access by subsequent instructions executing at processor 702 or for writing to memory 704 or storage 706; or other suitable data. The data caches may speed up read or write operations by processor 702. The TLBs may speed up virtual-address translation for processor 702. In particular embodiments, processor 702 may include one or more internal registers for data, instructions, or addresses. This disclosure contemplates processor 702 including any suitable number of any suitable internal registers, where appropriate. Where appropriate, processor 702 may include one or more arithmetic logic units (ALUs); be a multi-core processor; or include one or more processors 702. Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particular processor, this disclosure contemplates any suitable processor.
In particular embodiments, memory 704 includes main memory for storing instructions for processor 702 to execute or data for processor 702 to operate on. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system 700 may load instructions from storage 706 or another source (such as, for example, another computer system 700) to memory 704. Processor 702 may then load the instructions from memory 704 to an internal register or internal cache. To execute the instructions, processor 702 may retrieve the instructions from the internal register or internal cache and decode them. During or after execution of the instructions, processor 702 may write one or more results (which may be intermediate or final results) to the internal register or internal cache. Processor 702 may then write one or more of those results to memory 704. In particular embodiments, processor 702 executes only instructions in one or more internal registers or internal caches or in memory 704 (as opposed to storage 706 or elsewhere) and operates only on data in one or more internal registers or internal caches or in memory 704 (as opposed to storage 706 or elsewhere). One or more memory buses (which may each include an address bus and a data bus) may couple processor 702 to memory 704. Bus 712 may include one or more memory buses, as described below. In particular embodiments, one or more memory management units (MMUs) reside between processor 702 and memory 704 and facilitate accesses to memory 704 requested by processor 702. In particular embodiments, memory 704 includes random access memory (RAM). This RAM may be volatile memory, where appropriate Where appropriate, this RAM may be dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM). Moreover, where appropriate, this RAM may be single-ported or multi-ported RAM. This disclosure contemplates any suitable RAM. Memory 704 may include one or more memories 704, where appropriate. Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particular memory, this disclosure contemplates any suitable memory.
In particular embodiments, storage 706 includes mass storage for data or instructions. As an example and not by way of limitation, storage 706 may include a hard disk drive (HDD), a floppy disk drive, flash memory, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, magnetic tape, or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive or a combination of two or more of these. Storage 706 may include removable or non-removable (or fixed) media, where appropriate. Storage 706 may be internal or external to computer system 700, where appropriate. In particular embodiments, storage 706 is non-volatile, solid-state memory. In particular embodiments, storage 706 includes read-only memory (ROM). Where appropriate, this ROM may be mask-programmed ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), electrically alterable ROM (EAROM), or flash memory or a combination of two or more of these. This disclosure contemplates mass storage 706 taking any suitable physical form. Storage 706 may include one or more storage control units facilitating communication between processor 702 and storage 706, where appropriate. Where appropriate, storage 706 may include one or more storages 706. Although this disclosure describes and illustrates particular storage, this disclosure contemplates any suitable storage.
In particular embodiments, I/O interface 708 includes hardware, software, or both, providing one or more interfaces for communication between computer system 700 and one or more I/O devices. Computer system 700 may include one or more of these I/O devices, where appropriate. One or more of these I/O devices may enable communication between a person and computer system 700. As an example and not by way of limitation, an I/O device may include a keyboard, keypad, microphone, monitor, mouse, printer, scanner, speaker, still camera, stylus, tablet, touch screen, trackball, video camera, another suitable I/O device or a combination of two or more of these. An I/O device may include one or more sensors. This disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O devices and any suitable I/O interfaces 708 for them. Where appropriate, I/O interface 708 may include one or more device or software drivers enabling processor 702 to drive one or more of these I/O devices. I/O interface 708 may include one or more I/O interfaces 708, where appropriate. Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particular I/O interface, this disclosure contemplates any suitable I/O interface.
In particular embodiments, communication interface 710 includes hardware, software, or both providing one or more interfaces for communication (such as, for example, packet-based communication) between computer system 700 and one or more other computer systems 700 or one or more networks. As an example and not by way of limitation, communication interface 710 may include a network interface controller (NIC) or network adapter for communicating with an Ethernet or other wire-based network or a wireless NIC (WNIC) or wireless adapter for communicating with a wireless network, such as a WI-FI network. This disclosure contemplates any suitable network and any suitable communication interface 710 for it. As an example and not by way of limitation, computer system 700 may communicate with an ad hoc network, a personal area network (PAN), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), or one or more portions of the Internet or a combination of two or more of these. One or more portions of one or more of these networks may be wired or wireless. As an example, computer system 700 may communicate with a wireless PAN (WPAN) (such as, for example, a BLUETOOTH WPAN), a WI-FI network, a WI-MAX network, a cellular telephone network (such as, for example, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network), or other suitable wireless network or a combination of two or more of these. Computer system 700 may include any suitable communication interface 710 for any of these networks, where appropriate. Communication interface 710 may include one or more communication interfaces 710, where appropriate. Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particular communication interface, this disclosure contemplates any suitable communication interface.
In particular embodiments, bus 712 includes hardware, software, or both coupling components of computer system 700 to each other. As an example and not by way of limitation, bus 712 may include an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) or other graphics bus, an Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, a front-side bus (FSB), a HYPERTRANSPORT (HT) interconnect, an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, an INFINIBAND interconnect, a low-pin-count (LPC) bus, a memory bus, a Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, a PCI-Express (PCIe) bus, a serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) bus, a Video Electronics Standards Association local (VLB) bus, or another suitable bus or a combination of two or more of these. Bus 712 may include one or more buses 712, where appropriate. Although this disclosure describes and illustrates a particular bus, this disclosure contemplates any suitable bus or interconnect.
Herein, a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium or media may include one or more semiconductor-based or other integrated circuits (ICs) (such, as for example, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific ICs (ASICs)), hard disk drives (HDDs), hybrid hard drives (HHDs), optical discs, optical disc drives (ODDs), magneto-optical discs, magneto-optical drives, floppy diskettes, floppy disk drives (FDDs), magnetic tapes, solid-state drives (SSDs), RAM-drives, SECURE DIGITAL cards or drives, any other suitable computer-readable non-transitory storage media, or any suitable combination of two or more of these, where appropriate. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium may be volatile, non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile, where appropriate.
Herein, “or” is inclusive and not exclusive, unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A or B” means “A, B, or both,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Moreover, “and” is both joint and several, unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context. Therefore, herein, “A and B” means “A and B, jointly or severally,” unless expressly indicated otherwise or indicated otherwise by context.
The scope of this disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments described or illustrated herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. The scope of this disclosure is not limited to the example embodiments described or illustrated herein. Moreover, although this disclosure describes and illustrates respective embodiments herein as including particular components, elements, feature, functions, operations, or steps, any of these embodiments may include any combination or permutation of any of the components, elements, features, functions, operations, or steps described or illustrated anywhere herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Furthermore, reference in the appended claims to an apparatus or system or a component of an apparatus or system being adapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operative to perform a particular function encompasses that apparatus, system, component, whether or not it or that particular function is activated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, or component is so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled, operable, or operative.
