Token-activated, federated access to social network information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9307034-B1
Application number	US-75967610-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Apr 13, 2010
Priority date	Apr 13, 2010
Publication date	Apr 5, 2016
Grant date	Apr 5, 2016

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems directed to federated access to social networking information of a user initiated upon activation of a physical access token. A user may initiate a workflow, by activating a physical token, that establishes a federated access session between a third-party system and a social networking system to allow the third-party system to augment the user's experience with social networking information without the user directly accessing either the third-party system or the social networking system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
by a computing system of a social-networking system, receiving from a third-party computing system a request for federated access to social-networking information of a user of the social-networking system, wherein:
the request for federated access was initiated by a physical access token corresponding to a transaction performed by the user at a point-of-sale terminal and comprises an indication of one or more options associated with the social-networking system that may be selected by the user at the point-of-sale terminal; and
the social-networking system maintains:
information identifying one or more connections of the user to one or more other users;
a profile of the user comprising information associated with the user; and
one or more privacy or other configuration settings associated with the user,

by a computing system of the social-networking system, determining, based on one or more of the privacy or other configuration settings, that the third-party computing system is authorized to receive information from the social-networking system associated with the user, wherein the request comprises information indicating that the transaction is directed to, at least in part, receiving by the user, at the third-party computer system, the information from the social-networking system; and
by a computing system of the social-networking system, establishing a federated-access session with the third-party computing system providing the third-party computing system federated access to the information associated with the user.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request for federated access further comprises an access token generated by another third-party computing system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the federated-access session has a time limit, after which the federated-access session expires.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the request for federated access further comprises an access-token-reader identifier; and
the method further comprises mapping the access-token-reader identifier to access permissions associated with the user.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the request for federated access further comprises an access-token-reader identifier; and
the method further comprises mapping the access-token-reader identifier to a third-party application.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the third-party application maps to privacy settings configured by the user; and
the method further comprises allowing the third-party application to access social-networking information of the user according to the privacy settings.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving content from the third-party computing system over the federated-access session and posting the content to a user-profile page of the user within the social-networking system.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, from the third-party computing system, a request over the federated-access session to debit a virtual currency account of the user.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising streaming social-networking information of the user over the federated-access session to the third-party computing system.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising hosting an interactive communications session between the user and the social-networking system through the federated-access session.

11. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:
receive, from a third-party computing system, a request for federated access to social-networking information of a user of a social-networking system, wherein:
the request for federated access was initiated by a physical access token corresponding to a transaction performed by the user at a point-of-sale terminal and comprises an indication of one or more options associated with the social-networking system that may be selected by the user at the point-of-sale terminal; and
the social-networking system maintains:
information identifying one or more connections of the user to one or more other users;
a profile of the user comprising information associated with the user; and
one or more privacy or other configuration settings associated with the user;

determine, based on one or more of the privacy or other configuration settings, that the third-party computing system is authorized to receive information from the social-networking system associated with the user, wherein the request comprises information indicating that the transaction is directed to, at least in part, receiving by the user, at the third-party computer system, the information from the social-networking system; and
establish a federated-access session with the third-party computing system providing the third-party computing system federated access to the information associated with the user.

12. The media of claim 11 , wherein the request for federated access further comprises an access token generated by another third-party computing system.

13. The media of claim 11 , wherein the federated-access session has a time limit, after which the federated-access session expires.

14. The media of claim 11 , wherein:
the request for federated access further comprises an access-token-reader identifier; and
the software is further operable when executed to map the access-token-reader identifier to access permissions associated with the user.

15. The media of claim 11 , wherein:
the request for federated access further comprises an access-token-reader identifier; and
the software is further operable when executed to map the access-token-reader identifier to a third-party application.

16. The media of claim 15 , wherein:
the third-party application maps to privacy settings configured by the user; and
the software is further operable when executed to allow the third-party application to access social-networking information of the user according to the privacy settings.

17. The media of claim 11 , wherein the software is further operable when executed to receive content from the third-party computing system over the federated-access session and post the content to a user-profile page of the user within the social-networking system.

18. The media of claim 11 , wherein the software is further operable when executed to receive, from the third-party computing system, a request over the federated-access session to debit a virtual currency account of the user.

19. The media of claim 11 , wherein the software is further operable when executed to stream social-networking information of the user over the federated-access session to the third-party computing system.

20. The media of claim 11 , wherein the software is further operable when executed to host an interactive communications session between the user and the social-networking system through the federated-access session.

21. A computing system of a social-networking system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors being operable when executing the instructions to:
receive, from a third-party computing system, a request for federated access to social-networking information of a user of the social-networking system, wherein:
the request for federated access was initiated by a physical access token corresponding to a transaction performed by the user at a point-of-sale terminal and comprises an indication of one or more

Assignees

• Keyani Pedram
• Lee George
• Seligstein Joel Benjamin
• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Keyani Pedram
• Lee George
• Seligstein Joel Benjamin

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G06Q20/0655

  e-cash managed centrally · CPC title

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04W4/21

  for social networking applications · CPC title

• G06Q20/34

  using cards, e.g. integrated circuit [IC] cards or magnetic cards · CPC title