Searching for Application Content with Social Plug-ins

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017116339-A1
Application number	US-201514923191-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 26, 2015
Priority date	Oct 26, 2015
Publication date	Apr 27, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method includes receiving a query identifying a first entity associated with the online social network. The method then includes accessing a deep-link index of the online social network including a plurality of records of indexed deep-links to a plurality of third-party applications. A deep link to the third-party application may include instructions for accessing a display state of the third-party application associated with the entity. The method further includes identifying one or more records of the deep-link index having an entity-identifier matching the identified first entity of the query, and sending one or more search results responsive to the query. The search results may include deep links corresponding to one or more of the identified records, and each deep link may be selectable by the first user to access a display state of a third-party application associated with the first entity of the query.

First claim

1 . A method comprising, by one or more computing devices of an online social network:
receiving, from a client device of a first user of the online social network, a query identifying a first entity associated with the online social network; accessing a deep-link index of the online social network comprising a plurality of records of indexed deep links to a plurality of third-party applications, each record comprising an entity-identifier of an entity of the online social network, an application-identifier of the third-party application, and a deep link to the third-party application comprising instructions for accessing a display state of the third-party application associated with the entity; identifying one or more records of the deep-link index having an entity-identifier matching the identified first entity of the query; and sending, to the client device of the first user, one or more search results responsive to the query, wherein one or more of the search results comprises deep links corresponding to one or more of the identified records, each deep link being selectable by the first user to access a display state of a third-party application associated with the first entity of the query.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the query is received from a first application of the client device via a social plug-in associated with the online social network.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first application is an application associated with the online social network.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first application is another third-party application.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first entity corresponds to a node of a social graph of the online social network, the social graph comprising a plurality of nodes and a plurality of edges connecting the nodes, and each of the edges between two of the nodes representing a single degree of separation between them.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the entity-identifier of the entity of the online social network comprises information for identifying a corresponding first node of the social graph of the online social network.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the application-identifier of the third-party application comprises information for identifying a corresponding second node of the social graph of the online social network.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising ranking the one or more search results based on a predetermined metric; and
wherein the one or more search results are presented in ranked order based on their respective rankings.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more search results are ranked based on a degree of separation between the entity associated with the identified record and the first entity of the query on a social graph of the online social network.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more search results are ranked based on a type of content associated with each search result.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more search results are sent to the client device via a social plug-in; and
wherein the one or more search results are displayed within a first application of the client device.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising, prior to sending the one or more search results, requesting authentication information from the client device to access the one or more search results,
wherein the authentication information is sent via the social plug-in and not accessible by the first application.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the one or more search results are sent via the social plug-in and not accessible by the first application.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
retrieving, responsive to a selection of one of the search results by the first user, the deep link corresponding to the selected search result; and executing, via the social plug-in, the retrieved deep link to present the display state of the third-party application associated with the first entity of the query on a user interface of the first application.

15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the display state of the third-party application is presented in an interactive element on the user interface, the interactive element overlapping at least a portion of user interface of the first application.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the interactive element is persistently displayed on the user interface until the client device receives a user input selecting the interactive element.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the presenting of the display state of the third-party application further comprises redirecting the first user from the user interface of the first application to a separate user interface of the third-party application.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the user interface of the third-party application encompasses the entirety of a user interface of the client device.

19 . One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:
receive, from a client device of a first user of the online social network, a query identifying a first entity associated with the online social network; access a deep-link index of the online social network comprising a plurality of records of indexed deep-links to a plurality of third-party applications, each record comprising an entity-identifier an entity of the online social network, an application-identifier of the third-party application, and a deep link to the third-party application comprising instructions for accessing a display state of the third-party application associated with the entity; identify one or more records of the deep-link index having an entity-identifier matching the identified first entity of the query; and send, to the client device of the first user, one or more search results responsive to the query, wherein one or more of the search results comprises deep links corresponding to one or more of the identified records, each deep link being selectable by the first user to access a display state of a third-party application associated with the first entity of the query.

20 . A system comprising: one or more processors; and a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to:
receive, from a client device of a first user of the online social network, a query identifying a first entity associated with the online social network; access a deep-link index of the online social network comprising a plurality of records of indexed deep-links to a plurality of third-party applications, each record comprising an entity-identifier an entity of the online social network, an application-identifier of the third-party application, and a deep link to the third-party application comprising instructions for accessing a display state of the third-party application associated with the entity; identify one or more records of the deep-link index having an entity-identifier matching the identified first entity of the query; and send, to the client device of the first user, one or more search results responsive to the query, wherein one or more of the search results comprises deep links corresponding to one or more of the identified records, each deep link being selectable by the first user to access a display state of a third-party application associated with the first entity of the query.

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Stein Alexander P
• Rothschild Michael Yehuda
• Bennier Ravit
• Vishwanath Tirunelveli R
• Stock Ethan Charles
• Bhartia Varun Vikram

Classifications

• H04L63/08

  for authentication of entities (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32) · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F16/9535 Primary

  Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation · CPC title

• G06F16/248

  Presentation of query results · CPC title