Automatically providing a communication based on location information for a user of a social networking system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9565525-B2
Application number	US-201615065824-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2016
Priority date	Dec 14, 2005
Publication date	Feb 7, 2017
Grant date	Feb 7, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for automatically locating web-based social network members are provided. According to one embodiment, contact content including an associated GPS identifier and status for web-based social network members located at or near the same location automatically appears on a GPS-enabled device. A further exemplary system includes a GPS-enabled device configured to receive a GPS identifier and a status representing a location and a current state for a web-based social network member, a processing module that associates the received GPS-identifier and the received status, and a communications module that sends the associated GPS-identifier and status to a server comprising a web-based social network database. Contact content in a web-based social network database record in the web-based social network database is updated to include the associated GPS identifier and status for the web-based social network member.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, by a social networking system, location information for a device associated with a first user of the social networking system;
associating the location information with the first user in a user profile associated with the first user of the social networking system;
receiving, by the social networking system, second location information for a second device associated with a second user of the social networking system;
determining that the location information and the second location information have a matching or near matching GPS identifier; and
responsive to the determining, sending, from the social networking system to a second user, a communication generated based at least in part on the location information.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the second user has a social networking connection to the first user over the social networking system.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein associating the location information comprises storing the location information in the user profile associated with the first user.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information is a story providing information about the first user based at least in part on the location information.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein sending the communication generated based at least in part on the location information to the second user comprises:
determining a physical address based at least in part on the location information; and
sending at least the physical address to the second user.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a video associated with the location information.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes audio associated with the location information.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a photograph associated with the location information.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information provides information about a place at a geographic location represented by the location information.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, by a social networking system, location information for a device associated with a first user of the social networking system;
associating the location information with the first user in a user profile associated with the first user of the social networking system;
receiving, by the social networking system, second location information for a second device associated with a second user of the social networking system;
determining that the location information and the second location correspond to locations that are near each other; and
responsive to the determining, sending, from the social networking system to a second user, a communication generated based at least in part on the location information.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the second user has a social networking connection to the first user over the social networking system.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein associating the location information comprises storing the location information in the user profile associated with the first user.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information is a story providing information about the first user based at least in part on the location information.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein sending the communication generated based at least in part on the location information to the second user comprises:
determining a physical address based at least in part on the location information; and
sending at least the physical address to the second user.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a video associated with the location information.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes audio associated with the location information.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information includes a photograph associated with the location information.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the communication generated based at least in part on the location information provides information about a place at a geographic location represented by the location information.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a computer processor of a social networking system, the instructions comprising:
instructions for receiving, by the social networking system, location information for a device associated with a first user of the social networking system;
instructions for associating the location information with the first user in a user profile associated with the first user of the social networking system;
instructions for receiving, by the social networking system, second location information for a second device associated with a second user of the social networking system;
instructions for determining that the location information and the second location correspond to locations that are near each other; and
instructions for, responsive to the determining, sending, from the social networking system to a second user, a communication generated based at least in part on the location information.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , wherein sending the communication generated based at least in part on the location information to the second user comprises:
determining a physical address based at least in part on the location information; and
sending at least the physical address to the second user.

Assignees

• Facebook Inc

Inventors

• Stremel Jed
• Ramakrishnan Thyagarajapuram S
• Slee Mark

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

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

• G06Q30/0633

  Managing shopping lists, e.g. compiling or processing purchase lists (shipping orders G06Q10/083; order filling G06Q10/087) · CPC title

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/21

  for social networking applications · CPC title

• H04W4/185

  by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging · CPC title