Social network collaboration space

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9876827-B2
Application number	US-201113976829-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2011
Priority date	Dec 27, 2010
Publication date	Jan 23, 2018
Grant date	Jan 23, 2018

Abstract

A method, at a client device associated with a first subscriber of a multiplicity of subscribers to a social network, includes presenting a social network page associated with a second subscriber of the multiplicity of subscribers to the social network, the social network page including a link to an online collaboration space associated with the second subscriber; receiving a user input activating the link, the user input made by the first subscriber of the multiplicity of subscribers; and in response to the user input activating the link, presenting the online collaboration space and adding the first subscriber as a participant to the online collaboration space.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
at a client device associated with a first subscriber of a multiplicity of subscribers to a social network:
presenting a social network page associated with a second subscriber of the multiplicity of subscribers to the social network, the social network page including a content feed and a link to a virtual location associated with the second subscriber in which subscribers to the social network can engage in conversation and share information in real-time, wherein the content feed includes updates and posts posted by the second subscriber and indicates when the second subscriber is actively present in the virtual location associated with the second subscriber;
receiving a user input activating the link, the user input made by the first subscriber of the multiplicity of subscribers; and
in response to the user input activating the link, presenting the virtual location and adding the first subscriber as a participant to the virtual location.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein presenting the virtual location comprises:
concurrently displaying a plurality of video streams, each video stream associated with a respective participant in the virtual location.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
ceasing display of the video stream associated with the first subscriber in accordance with an input from the first subscriber.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein presenting the virtual location comprises:
for at least first and second participants in the virtual location, playing an audio stream associated with the respective participant.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein presenting the virtual location comprises:
displaying visual indicia for a respective participant when the audio stream associated with the respective participant is active.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying a shared whiteboard in the virtual location;
receiving editing inputs into the shared whiteboard from a plurality of participants in the virtual location; and
displaying content generated in accordance with the editing inputs.

7. A server system, comprising:
one or more processing units;
memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processing units;
the one or more programs comprising instructions for performing the method of claim 1 .

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured for execution by a computer, the one or more programs comprising instructions for performing the method of claim 1 .

9. A method, comprising:
at a server system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors:
sending to a client system for display a social network page associated with a first subscriber of a multiplicity of social network subscribers, the social network page including a content feed and a link to a virtual location associated with the first subscriber in which subscribers to the social network can engage in conversation and share information in real-time, wherein the content feed includes updates and posts posted by the first subscriber and indicates when the first subscriber is actively present in the virtual location associated with the first subscriber;
receiving a request to activate the link, the request associated with a second subscriber of the multiplicity of subscribers; and
in response to the request, adding the second subscriber as a participant of the virtual location and sending to a client system for display at least a subset of content items in the virtual location.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
sending to the client system for display one or more video streams, each respective video stream associated with a participant in the virtual location.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
sending to the client system for playback one or more audio streams, each respective audio stream associated with a participant in the virtual location other than the second subscriber.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
sending to the client system for display visual indicia of a respective participant speaking into a respective associated audio stream.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
sending to the client system for display a shared whiteboard in the virtual location, wherein at least a plurality of the participants are enabled to add and modify content on the shared whiteboard.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving editing inputs into the shared whiteboard from a plurality of participants in the virtual location;
updating content in the shared whiteboard in accordance with the editing inputs; and
sending the updated content to the client system for display.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving a content item contributed by a participant in the virtual location; and
sending the content item to client systems associated with other participants in the virtual location for display.

16. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
sending to a plurality of client systems associated with participants in the virtual location a shared document for display;
receiving editing inputs for the shared document from a plurality of participants in the virtual location;
updating content in the shared document in accordance with the editing inputs; and sending the updated content to the plurality of client systems for display.

17. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
sending to a second client system for display, the social network page associated with the first subscriber of a multiplicity of social network subscribers, wherein the social network page includes a posting that indicates the second subscriber was added as a participant of the virtual location.

18. A server system comprising:
one or more processing units;
memory storing one or more programs to be executed by the one or more processing units; and
for each respective subscriber of a multiplicity of subscribers to a social network, a social network page, the social network page including a content feed and a link to a virtual location associated with the respective subscriber in which subscribers to the social network can engage in conversation and share information in real-time;
wherein the content feed includes updates and posts posted by the respective subscriber and indicates when the respective subscriber is actively present in the virtual location associated with the respective subscriber;
wherein the social network page of the respective subscriber is accessible to at least a subset of the other subscribers of the social network; and
wherein activation of the virtual location link by a subscriber adds the subscriber as a participant of the virtual location and causes information from the virtual location to be sent to a client device of the subscriber for display in a user interface of the virtual location.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the virtual location includes:
for at least first and second participants in the virtual location, an audio stream associated with the respective participant.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the user interface of the virtual location includes:
visual indicia for a respective participant when the audio stream associated with the respective participant is active.

21. The system of claim 19 , wherein the user interface of the virtual location includes:
a muting affordance f

Assignees

• Chew Chee H
• Gundotra Vivek P
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Chew Chee H
• Gundotra Vivek P

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

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

• G06Q10/10 Primary

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• G06Q50/01

  Physics · mapped topic

• H04L51/32

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/40 Primary

  Support for services or applications · CPC title