Facebook Patents Granted
Patents granted to Facebook by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 8713694Abstract: A data transfer method performed at a proxy server includes intercepting a data request from a client computer that is directed to a target server, encrypting profile information, augmenting the data request by adding the encrypted profile information to the data request, and sending the augmented data request to the target server. A data transfer method that is performed at an information server includes receiving a data request from a proxy server, extracting profile information added to the data request by the proxy server, using the extracted profile information to generate a response, and sending the response to the proxy server.Type: GrantFiled: September 14, 2012Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Larry T. Harada, Mark A. Dolecki, Christopher S Purdum, C. Hudson Hendren, III
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Patent number: 8713654Abstract: In the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, every time a user submits a form the client software tries to match the submitted information with the stored profile of that user. If a match is discovered, the program tags the field of the recognized data with a corresponding type. The resulting profile can be used after that to help all subsequent users to fill the same form.Type: GrantFiled: August 23, 2012Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Ognian Z. Topalov, Eric Hohenstein
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Patent number: 8713178Abstract: A home gateway accesses a host system that differentially routes messages over a communication network to a destination system. The selection of a communication pathway from multiple possible communication pathways through a communication network is based on a user experience type (e.g., gaming user experience, streaming user experience, or browsing user experience) that generally reflects network resource consumption preferences of the user of the access account for the home gateway. Examples of user experience types include a gaming user experience, a streaming user experience and a browsing user experience. The user experience type generally reflects the online experience desired by the user.Type: GrantFiled: September 14, 2012Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Howard L. Pfeffer
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Patent number: 8713441Abstract: A real time notification system that tracks, for each user, the logon status of selected co-users of an on-line or network system and displays that information in real time to the tracking user in a unique graphical interface. The invention provides user definable on-line co-user lists, or “buddy lists”, that track specific co-users in real-time automatically. A user can create many separate buddy lists of co-users, either with intersecting or disjoint lists of users, and label these buddy lists according to the user's preference. The user can update a buddy list or create new buddy lists whenever necessary. When a user to logs on to a system, the user's set of buddy lists is presented to the buddy list system. The buddy list system attempts to match co-users currently logged into the system with the entries on the user's buddy list. Any matches are displayed to the user. As co-users logon and logoff, a user's buddy list is updated to reflect these changes.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2012Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Barry Appelman
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Patent number: 8712810Abstract: Techniques are described for accounting for travel time in scheduling appointments in an electronic calendar. For example, a travel time between appointments may be identified and a time block may be reserved on a calendar application to account for such travel time. Geographic locations of adjacent appointments in a calendar may be determined and a route between the geographic locations also may be determined. A travel time associated with traveling the route between the geographic locations may be computed and the computed travel time may be compared to unscheduled time between the adjacent appointments in the calendar to determine whether the unscheduled time exceeds the travel time. If it is determined that the unscheduled time exceeds the travel time, a time block may be reserved on the calendar application to account for the travel time.Type: GrantFiled: December 28, 2007Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Adrienne C. Meisels, Stephen J. Coughlin, W. Karl Renner
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Patent number: 8708689Abstract: Tooling and methods for co-molding a body with two different materials. An internal die assembly comprising at least two parts allows for placement of a component and co-molding of the body around the component and then removal of the internal die assembly without disturbing the body.Type: GrantFiled: September 9, 2011Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Jacques Gagne, Gerald Kirk McGinty
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Patent number: 8713586Abstract: Application code for deployment to a client over a data link is optimized to minimize download time by supplying only the application code with a particular object that is required by the object. In a web application that includes multiple pages, the HTML and JAVASCRIPT are scanned to identify code resources called by a particular web page. When all called resources are identified, they are extracted and concatenated into a single resource file. When the page is downloaded to the client, the import file is included with the page. The import file may be cached so that it need only be downloaded once, rather than being downloaded every time the page is requested. The invention is suitable for use with other interpreted scripting languages.Type: GrantFiled: May 10, 2011Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Robert Kieffer
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Patent number: 8713120Abstract: Controlling the volume of an audible alert associated with an instant messaging communications session includes rendering, on a first instant messaging user system, an instant messaging application user interface for an instant messaging communications session involving at least a first instant messaging user and a second instant messaging user, receiving notification of an event related to the instant messaging communications session, determining a characteristic of the event, accessing an audible alert to be rendered to signal existence of the event, adjusting based upon the determined characteristic of the event a volume of the audible alert corresponding to the event, and rendering the audible alert to signal existence of the event.Type: GrantFiled: September 15, 2012Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Brian D. Heikes, Xiaoyan Yin, Deborah R. Yurow, Kelly Matthews, Barry Appelman
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Patent number: 8711116Abstract: In one embodiment, a user of a mobile device navigates between application user interface layers by using touch inputs to the mobile device's side-mounted touchpad.Type: GrantFiled: October 17, 2011Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Matthew Nicholas Papakipos, Matthew Cahill
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Patent number: 8712431Abstract: Providing location information on a mobile device includes receiving signals from external devices. Each signal includes information that specifies a geographic location for the external device that has provided the signal. A geographic location for the mobile device is calculated by using the information contained in each of the received signals. A representation of the geographic location of the mobile device is generated. The representation of the geographic location is included within an electronic message that provides information describing a user of the mobile device to other users of an electronic communications system. The electronic message is transmitted to another device to provide an indication of the geographic location for the user to one of the other users of the electronic communications system.Type: GrantFiled: January 6, 2011Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Jennifer Granito, Alexander Franco
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Patent number: 8713114Abstract: Systems and techniques for transferring a file from a first client associated with a first subscriber to a communications system to a second client associated with a second subscriber to the communications system by connecting from the first client to a communications system host; sending, through the communications system host, a request to the second client to establish a direct connection to the second client; when the second client accepts the request, establishing a direct connection to the second client that bypasses the communications system host; and transferring a file over the direct connection.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 2011Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: James Crawford
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Patent number: 8713695Abstract: A data transfer method performed at a proxy server includes intercepting a data request from a client computer that is directed to a target server, encrypting profile information, augmenting the data request by adding the encrypted profile information to the data request, and sending the augmented data request to the target server. A data transfer method that is performed at an information server includes receiving a data request from a proxy server, extracting profile information added to the data request by the proxy server, using the extracted profile information to generate a response, and sending the response to the proxy server.Type: GrantFiled: September 14, 2012Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Larry T. Harada, Mark A. Dolecki, Christopher S Purdum, C. Hudson Hendren, III
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Patent number: 8713174Abstract: An event notification matching system, including an event matching table forming a plurality of nodes. Each node is assigned a subscriber request value and contains identifiers for one or more subscribers to be notified at the occurrence of an event relating to the subscriber request value. The event notification matching system may also include a table index. The table index receives input values from an event processing module and selects one or more of the nodes that have subscriber request values corresponding to the received input values. The event processor receives event data from a predetermined source, and formats the input values to simplify the operations performed by the event matching table. The event notification matching system is configured such that the event data need not be compared to non-matching nodes in the event matching table.Type: GrantFiled: September 14, 2012Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: David C. Sobotka, Christopher E. Austin-Lane, Vijay K. Eranti
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Patent number: 8713014Abstract: A classification system includes a signature-based duplicate detector and an inductive classifier that share attribute information. To perform the duplicate detection and the classification, the duplicate detector and inductive classifier are first initialized by generating a lexicon of attributes for the duplicate detector and a classification model for the classifier. To develop a classification model, a training set of documents of known class are used by the classifier to determine the attributes of the documents that are most useful in classifying an unknown document. The model is developed from these attributes. Attribute information containing the attributes determined by the classifier is then passed to the duplicate detector and the duplicate detector uses the attribute information to generate the lexicon of attributes.Type: GrantFiled: May 14, 2010Date of Patent: April 29, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Joshua Alspector, Abdur R. Chowdhury, Aleksander Kolcz
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Patent number: 8707161Abstract: Markup language documents including server side scripting code using PHP syntax are executed efficiently in response to requests received by a server. The processing of the markup language document results in generation of a transformed markup language document that is returned in response to the request. The server side script code is input to a compiler that generates C++ code (or code in any object-based language based on C language) implementing the functionality of the server side script code. The C++ code is compiled to generated object code which is executed in order to process the markup language document. The generated C++ code includes functionality supported by PHP language including redeclaration of functions, dynamic variables, global variables, and the like. The generated C++ code invokes memory allocation code that allocates and deallocates objects obtained by instantiating the generated C++ classes.Type: GrantFiled: September 27, 2010Date of Patent: April 22, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Iain Andrew Russell Proctor, Minghui Yang, Haiping Zhao
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Patent number: 8706824Abstract: A messaging system facilitates communication between users through various messaging channels. The messaging system supports multiple communication channels and includes a messaging module that automatically selects one or more of the messaging channels for delivering a message to a recipient of the message using, for example, a set of policy rules or a trained model. The messaging module may also provide, in a user interface for sending and receiving messages, a visual indication of the selected messaging channel to the sender of the message to provide the user with transparency about how the message will be delivered. Additionally, the message may be delivered via multiple messaging channels, where the messaging module may rescind messages from some of the messaging channels upon receiving a reply from the recipient of the message or other confirmation that the recipient has seen the message via one of the communication channels.Type: GrantFiled: August 8, 2011Date of Patent: April 22, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Benjamin Peter Davenport, Peter Xiu Deng, Jonathan David Perlow, Lucy Congyun Zhang, Ben Gertzfield
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Patent number: 8707154Abstract: In a slideshow which reproduces a content associated with comment information, the reproduction timing of the content can be controlled according to the reproduction timing of the comment information. In a reproduction table, the following are associated with each other: reproduction order; image-document combinations indicated by an image (or the identification information of the image, such as a JPEG file name) and a document (or the identification information of the document, such as a TXT file name); the number of characters in the document; and reproduction time of the image and the document identified by the identification information of the image and the document, respectively. The greater the number of characters the document has, the longer the reproduction time the image associated with the document has. Not every image needs to be associated with the document. For example, basic reproduction time of 5 seconds is assigned to image No. 3.Type: GrantFiled: July 28, 2009Date of Patent: April 22, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Kei Yamaji, Kazuhiro Mino
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Patent number: 8706801Abstract: The functionality of a browser application is enhanced using a browser plug-in, which enables the browser application to access portions of a file system not otherwise accessible to the browser application. The enhanced functionality provided by the browser plug-in is used in one example by an image uploading web application. The browser application may also start a task in the background, such as a task for uploading several images, and then monitor the progress of the task even when the browser application navigates away from the page that initiated the task. The browser application may use a local web server running on the client device to perform tasks, including the rendering of images and monitoring progress of long running tasks.Type: GrantFiled: July 20, 2009Date of Patent: April 22, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Matthew Cahill, Christopher W. Putnam, Daniel Reed Weatherford
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Patent number: 8706499Abstract: Client devices periodically capture ambient audio waveforms, generate waveform fingerprints, and upload the fingerprints to a server for analysis. The server compares the waveforms to a database of stored waveform fingerprints, and upon finding a match, pushes content or other information to the client device. The fingerprints in the database may be uploaded by other users, and compared to the received client waveform fingerprint based on common location or other social factors. Thus a client's location may be enhanced if the location of users whose fingerprints match the client's is known. In particular embodiments, the server may instruct clients whose fingerprints partially match to capture waveform data at a particular time and duration for further analysis and increased match confidence.Type: GrantFiled: August 16, 2011Date of Patent: April 22, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Matthew Nicholas Papakipos, David Harry Garcia
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Patent number: 8701019Abstract: A social networking system includes a question and answer system that displays to a viewing user questions and answers provides by other users of the social networking system. The question and answer system may display answers to a particular question in a way that visually indicates both the global answer set and a subset of the global answer set, such as the viewing user's friends. The social networking system may also display to a viewing user news stories about another user asking or answering a question, where the format of the displayed new stories is based on an affinity that the viewing user has for the user who provided the question or answer mentioned in the news story. The displayed questions and/or answers may be associated with an object in the social networking system, where the user interface provides additional information about those objects.Type: GrantFiled: March 24, 2011Date of Patent: April 15, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Robert Michael Baldwin, Adrian A. Graham, Drew W. Hamlin, Benjamin E. Hiller
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Patent number: 8700636Abstract: One embodiment selects from a plurality of actions performed by one or more users of a social networking system a first action and one or more second actions, wherein each action has one or more attributes; computes a score for each second action by comparing the one or more attributes of each second action with the one or more attributes of the first action; ranks the one or more second actions according to the score computed for each second action; and selects from the one or more second actions one or more highest-ranking second actions as being related to the first action.Type: GrantFiled: September 16, 2010Date of Patent: April 15, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Wayne Kao, Daniel Schafer, Joshua Van Dyke Watzman
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Patent number: 8700708Abstract: In particular embodiments, a method comprising, by one or more computing devices, analyzing one or more elements of a displayed structured document to identify one or more objects from a plurality of objects within the displayed structured document, responsive to detected user interaction by a user with a first object of the one or more identified objects, generating data indicating an edge relationship from the first object and the user, and transmitting the data indicating the edge relationship to a social networking system.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 2011Date of Patent: April 15, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Michael Judd Richter, Matthew William Kelly, Austin Haugen
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Patent number: 8701014Abstract: Linking multiple identities from a single service includes for a user of a single service having multiple identities within the single service, authenticating a primary identity having a first buddy list associated with an account, authenticating a secondary identity having a second buddy list associated with the account, and creating an association between the primary identity and the secondary identity, where the primary identity and the secondary identity simultaneously share a common graphical user interface such that the primary identity interacts with the first buddy list and the secondary identity interacts with the second buddy list using the common graphical user interface.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 2003Date of Patent: April 15, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Heather Allison Schlegel, Barry Appelman, Andrew L. Wick, Alan Keister, Chris Chih-Shen Chung, James A. Odell, Barbara McNally, Michael Robert Enloe, Pei-Lin Wu, Russell William Richards, Alexis Inch, David Cox, Xiaopeng Zhang, Gregory Cypes, David McCormick
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Patent number: 8694542Abstract: Updates to landing pages of users in an online social network are fed from external sources so that content maintained by any one user can be consolidated in a single location regardless of where the changes are made to the content. When an update event occurs, users of the online social network are notified according to various criteria that they have set. With this feature, users can browse through content of other users efficiently.Type: GrantFiled: October 7, 2011Date of Patent: April 8, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: William K. Tiu, Jr., Kent Lindstrom, Ross Ainsley MacKinnon
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Patent number: 8694581Abstract: Processing a browser request that specifies a destination network resource generally includes intercepting a browser request that specifies a selected destination network resource and redirecting the browser request to a network server that differs from the destination resource specified by the browser request. Processing a browser request also may include intercepting a browser request received from a client computer at a proxy server when the browser request specifies a selected destination network resource and performing instructions associated with and in addition to instructions performed to download the selected destination network resource.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2012Date of Patent: April 8, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: David Arsenault
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Patent number: 8694655Abstract: In one general sense, display of content communicated by a sender communication device to a destination communication device may be enabled by receiving, at a destination communication device, content to be displayed by the destination communication device. Characteristics of a display of the received content by the destination communication device may be algorithmically identified in accordance with display configuration settings for the destination communication device. Based on the identified characteristics, at least one change to be made to capture configuration settings at a capturing communication device used to capture the received content may be identified. At least one alternative capture configuration setting may be communicated to the capturing communication device. Content that is captured by the capturing communication device is received at the destination communications device based on the alternative capture configuration setting communicated.Type: GrantFiled: April 6, 2011Date of Patent: April 8, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Danny Ben Shitrit
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Patent number: 8694577Abstract: A social networking website maintains a profile for each user of the website. The profile includes data associated with a user, such as a connection to one or more plurality of other users of the social networking website or user preferences. The social networking website communicates with one or more third-party application servers to provide one or more applications to social networking website users. When a social networking website user requests an application provided by a third-party application server, the social networking website communicates a subset of the user's profile to the third-party application server, allowing the third-party application server to use this profile data to personalize the application performed for the user. A privacy settings associated with a user profile allows the social networking website to limit the profile data communicated to the third-party application server.Type: GrantFiled: June 12, 2008Date of Patent: April 8, 2014Assignee: Facebook, IncInventors: Adam D'Angelo, Charlie Cheever, Ari Steinberg, James Wang, Mark Slee
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Patent number: 8688778Abstract: Processing a browser request that specifies a destination network resource generally includes intercepting a browser request that specifies a selected destination network resource and redirecting the browser request to a network server that differs from the destination resource specified by the browser request. Processing a browser request also may include intercepting a browser request received from a client computer at a proxy server when the browser request specifies a selected destination network resource and performing instructions associated with and in addition to instructions performed to download the selected destination network resource.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2012Date of Patent: April 1, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: David Arsenault
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Patent number: 8688785Abstract: Online communication sessions may be joined in an environment that includes receiving a first communication between a first user and a second user and enabling the rendering of the first communication at devices associated with the first and second users. A second communication between the first user and a third user is received and the rendering of the second communication at devices associated with the first and third users is enabled. After receiving the first and second communications, a trigger to join at least the communication sessions associated with the first, second, and third users is received from the first, second, or third user. Information structured and arranged to render, in a single window, text associated with the first and second communications at the devices associated with the first, second, and third users is generated.Type: GrantFiled: September 1, 2011Date of Patent: April 1, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Brian Curry
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Patent number: 8688777Abstract: Processing a browser request that specifies a destination network resource generally includes intercepting a browser request that specifies a selected destination network resource and redirecting the browser request to a network server that differs from the destination resource specified by the browser request. Processing a browser request also may include intercepting a browser request received from a client computer at a proxy server when the browser request specifies a selected destination network resource and performing instructions associated with and in addition to instructions performed to download the selected destination network resource.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2012Date of Patent: April 1, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: David Arsenault
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Patent number: 8689312Abstract: Leveraging a persistent connection to provide a client access to a secured service may include establishing a persistent connection with a client in response to a first request from the client, and brokering a connection between the client and a secured service based on a second request from the client by leveraging the persistent connection with the client. The brokering may occur before the client attempts to connect to the secured service directly and the connection may be established between the client and the secured service without provision by the client of authentication information duplicative or additional to authentication information provided by the client to establish the persistent connection.Type: GrantFiled: April 23, 2012Date of Patent: April 1, 2014Assignee: Facebook Inc.Inventor: Robert Bruce Hirsh
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Patent number: 8681860Abstract: In principle, an I-frame is inserted every 50 frames and other frames are made P-frames. If the maximum amount of data that can be received by a terminal device to which a transmission is to be made is 300 KB, then frames up to a 144th frame for which the amount of data after compression will not exceed 300 KB is adopted as a first partitioned moving picture file. Since the 145th frame is the leading frame of the next partitioned moving picture file, it is made an I-frame. Frames from the 145th frame to a 289th frame are made a second partitioned moving picture file, and frames from a 290th frame to a 411th frame are made a third partitioned moving picture file. Since the leading frame of a partitioned moving picture file represents one complete frame, the moving picture can be reproduced and the number of partitions can be reduced.Type: GrantFiled: March 27, 2008Date of Patent: March 25, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Hisayoshi Tsubaki
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Patent number: 8683198Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided that allows code signed by a master key to grant trust to an arbitrary second key, and also allows code, referred to as an antidote and also signed by the master key to revoke permanently the trust given to the second key.Type: GrantFiled: April 27, 2012Date of Patent: March 25, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: James A. Roskind
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Patent number: 8676894Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a first selection of an entity associated with a user of a social-networking system; receiving a second selection of a type of user interaction with the entity; and providing the first and second selections for use in a sponsored-story specification. The use of the first and second selections in the sponsored-story specification facilitate entries in an organic activity stream of the social-networking system that match the sponsored-story specification being provided for display in pre-determined areas of web pages.Type: GrantFiled: September 14, 2012Date of Patent: March 18, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Kent Schoen, Ning Li, Robert Kang Xing Jin, Philip Anastasios Zigoris, Jessica Gronski, Jordan Walke, Eric Michel Giovanola
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Patent number: 8676978Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a resource list associated with a structured document loaded by a client application executing within a client device; identifying a first set of resources referenced in the resource list that are stored within a storage space of the client device; retrieving the first set of resources from the storage space; loading the first set of resources into a model representation of the structured document generated by a client document-rendering application for rendering by the client document-rendering application; identifying a second set of resources referenced in the resource list that are not stored within the storage space of the client device; formulating and transmitting one or more requests for the second set of resources; receiving the second set of resources in response to the requests; and loading the second set of resources into the model representation for rendering by the client document-rendering application.Type: GrantFiled: August 3, 2010Date of Patent: March 18, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Changhao Jiang, Erling Alf Ellingsen
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Patent number: 8676716Abstract: An online social network is provided in which members of the online social network control who may view their personal information and who may communicate with them. The members control who may view their personal information by setting a visibility preference. A member may not view another member's full personal profile if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the visibility preference of the other member. The members also control who may communicate with them by setting a contactability preference. A member may not communicate with another member if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the contactability preference of the other member.Type: GrantFiled: December 2, 2011Date of Patent: March 18, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Christopher Lunt
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Patent number: 8671150Abstract: A system and method for curtailing objectionable behavior in a web-based social network is disclosed. The method includes monitoring various actions of users of a web-based social network for objectionable behavior. The monitored actions are those that affect other users of the social network. A policy is determined based on behaviors of users. The policy may be violated by a user if the user exceeds a policy threshold. Some monitored actions include the poking, friend requesting, and wall posting. A policy may be violated by multiple occurrences of a single type of action or by a combination of different types of actions. Upon a policy violation, a warning may be issued to the user or the user's account may be suspended.Type: GrantFiled: June 5, 2013Date of Patent: March 11, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Andrew G. Bosworth, Scott Marlette, Christopher W. Putnam, Akhil Wable
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Patent number: 8671190Abstract: A social networking system includes pages created by users for providing content related to topics of interest. An interaction engine captures data and maintains analytical information about how users interact with pages and posts. When a user takes an action such as liking a page or a post, the interaction engine updates the page's activity history to reflect the activity and information about the user who took the action. The interaction engine also measures the reach of pages and posts, by determining how and from where each user viewed the page and its contents. The interaction engine further tracks the community's interest in pages and posts by determining how many unique users create stories that include a page or its content. An insights module uses the data obtained by the interaction engine to synthesize graphical reports about page interactions and present the reports to page administrators.Type: GrantFiled: December 23, 2011Date of Patent: March 11, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Janaka Liyanage, Wenrui Zhao, Louis Eisenberg, Danilo Torres de Sa Resende, Eric Michael Giovanola, David Gross-Baser, Ami Vora, Srikant Ramakrishna Ayyar, Ajoy Joseph Frank
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Patent number: 8671185Abstract: In one embodiment, in response to data to be transmitted to or from an electronic device, the electronic device determines whether the electronic device currently has a first network connection with a sufficiently high bandwidth. If the electronic device currently does not have a first network connection with a sufficiently high bandwidth, then the electronic device estimates a future time when the electronic device is likely to have a second network connection with a sufficiently high bandwidth, and schedules transmission of the data at the future time.Type: GrantFiled: May 3, 2011Date of Patent: March 11, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Shaheen Ashok Gandhi, David Scott Reiss, David Harry Garcia
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Patent number: 8671453Abstract: A social networking system obtains parental authorization from a parent for a child to access a computing resource, where the parent and the child are users of the social networking system. The child user may request the authorization by identifying a purported parent user. The social networking system attempts to verify the validity of the purported parent user's account, the age of the user associated with the purported parent's account, and/or the existence of a parent-child relationship between users of the accounts associated with the purported parent and the child. The social networking system makes these determinations, at least in part, using social and transactional information associated with the purported parent user's account and the child user's account in the social networking system. Upon verification of these items, the social networking system may allow the purported parent to provide authorization responsive to the child's request to access the computing resource.Type: GrantFiled: August 17, 2010Date of Patent: March 11, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Edward Moore Underwood, Joseph E. Sullivan, Ryan McGeehan
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Patent number: 8667397Abstract: A real time notification system that tracks, for each user, the logon status of selected co-users of an on-line or network system and displays that information in real time to the tracking user in a unique graphical interface. The invention provides user definable on-line co-user lists, or “buddy lists”, that track specific co-users in real-time automatically. A user can create many separate buddy lists of co-users, either with intersecting or disjoint lists of users, and label these buddy lists according to the user's preference. The user can update a buddy list or create new buddy lists whenever necessary. When a user logs on to a system, the user's set of buddy lists is presented to the buddy list system. The buddy list system attempts to match co-users currently logged into the system with the entries on the user's buddy list. Any matches are displayed to the user. As co-users logon and loge, a user's buddy list is updated to reflect these changes.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2012Date of Patent: March 4, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Barry Appelman
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Patent number: 8666198Abstract: A system and method for mapping interpersonal relationships, the method including processing a multiplicity of images and contextual information relating thereto including creating and prioritizing a list of a plurality of candidate persons having at least a predetermined relationship with at least one person connected to at least one image, using multi-dimensional information including visually sensible information in the multiplicity of images and contextual information relating thereto and searching the list of a plurality of candidate persons based at least in part on the prioritizing to select at least one of the candidate persons as having at least a predetermined relationship with the at least one person.Type: GrantFiled: March 19, 2009Date of Patent: March 4, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Eden Shochat, Moti Shniberg, Gil Hirsch, Yaniv Taigman
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Patent number: 8665878Abstract: Systems are provided for sequencing, delivery acknowledgement, and throttling of data packets over a network layer, such as UDP and SMS. To support devices with limited battery resources, the invention incorporates asymmetric retry logic and/or acknowledgements with overlapping ranges, to minimize the transmissions required for the device. The sender of a data-bearing frame does not need to wait for a frame to be acknowledged before sending the next, such that many frames can be “in flight” at once.Type: GrantFiled: October 14, 2011Date of Patent: March 4, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Stephen Blaine Coffman
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Patent number: 8667063Abstract: A social networking system displays raw stories about a user's friends' actions in a news ticker as those actions occur. The social networking system is monitored for actions associated with users connected with the target user. The social networking system may be continually monitored such that actions are identified in real-time as they are performed. The news ticker is updated such that stories including the identified actions and the associated connected users are displayed within a news ticker interface. The news ticker interface may be a dedicated portion of the social networking system interface, for example in a column next to a newsfeed. The news ticker interface may be updated in real time as actions associated with connected users are performed. The target user may select a displayed story in the news ticker, and additional information related to the selected story may be displayed, for instance in a separate interface.Type: GrantFiled: December 12, 2011Date of Patent: March 4, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Mary Graham, Erick Tseng
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Patent number: 8667398Abstract: A real time notification system that tracks, for each user, the logon status of selected co-users of an on-line or network system and displays that information in real time to the tracking user in a unique graphical interface. The invention provides user definable on-line co-user lists, or “buddy lists”, that track specific co-users in real-time automatically. A user can create many separate buddy lists of co-users, either with intersecting or disjoint lists of users, and label these buddy lists according to the user's preference. The user can update a buddy list or create new buddy lists whenever necessary. When a user logs on to a system, the user's set of buddy lists is presented to the buddy list system. The buddy list system attempts to match co-users currently logged into the system with the entries on the user's buddy list. Any matches are displayed to the user. As co-users logon and logoff, a user's buddy list is updated to reflect these changes.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2012Date of Patent: March 4, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Barry Appelman
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Patent number: 8666836Abstract: A social networking system predicts a life event (e.g., birthday, change in marital status, relationship status, etc.) for a target user based on information associated with the user. The social networking system identifies gift suggestions to provide to one or more friends of the user based on the predicted event. A gift suggestion may include an invitation to purchase or send an item, voucher, or other gift to the target user, wherein the gift may be determined based on information about the target user's interests obtained by the social networking system. The social networking system sends a gift suggestion to one or more friends of the target user, where the gift suggestion identifies the predicted life event and provides the gift suggestion to the target user's friend. The advertisement may require action by multiple of the target user's friends before the gift is sent to the target user.Type: GrantFiled: December 15, 2011Date of Patent: March 4, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Paul Adams
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Patent number: 8667064Abstract: A user device requests a web page from a web server of a third-party website, which is separate from a social networking system. The web server from the third-party website sends a markup language document for the requested web page to the user device which includes an instruction for a browser application running on the user device to incorporate information obtained from the social networking system within the web page. Based on the instruction in the received markup language document, the user device requests personalized content from the social networking system, which generates the requested personalized content based on social information about the user. The user device then renders the web page with the personalized content contained in a frame and displays the rendered web page and the frame to the user.Type: GrantFiled: July 15, 2012Date of Patent: March 4, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Mark E. Zuckerberg, Ray C. He, Spencer G. Ahrens, Yofay Kari Lee, Chaitanya Mishra, Austin Daniel Haugen, Xin Liu, Michael Steven Vernal
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Patent number: 8660614Abstract: A computer program product for instant message communication in a wireless and non-wireless environment. A message is sent from a mobile unit device over a wireless communication network. The message includes a destination address, information associated with the mobile unit device's user, message content and message address. If, according to information previously stored for the mobile unit device's user at the instant message system, the destination address is associated with an instant message function, the associated instant message function is executed at the instant message system using the information contained in the message content, if required as determined by the associated instant message function. If, according to information previously stored for the mobile unit device's user, the destination address is associated with an instant message name, an instant message is created according to the message content and is sent to the user with the associated instant message name.Type: GrantFiled: September 6, 2011Date of Patent: February 25, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Charles A. Carey, Bruce A. Robinson
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Patent number: 8656463Abstract: A system and method for determining a trust level for a non-approved user in a social network is described. The method includes monitoring requests for social network interactions between an approved user and the non-approved user and determining if each interaction requested is of a first type or a second type. The method further includes increasing a first trust value when the interaction requested is of the first type and increasing a second trust value when the interaction requested is of the second type. The method further includes determining the trust level based on the first trust value and the second trust value. The method further includes changing the status of the non-approved user to an approved user based on the trust level, the first trust value and/or the second trust value.Type: GrantFiled: October 7, 2010Date of Patent: February 18, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventors: Ezra Callahan, Aditya Agarwal, Charlie Cheever, Chris Putnam, Bob Trahan
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Patent number: 8655701Abstract: Instant messaging (IM) entities may be invited to an electronic calendar event using an instant message. Selecting the IM entities as invitees to the event may include dragging and dropping names of the IM entities from a buddy list of an IM application to an event from an electronic calendar application, or vice versa. A method of inviting an entity to a calendar event includes providing a calendar event from a calendar application and recognizing, by the calendar application, an IM entity as an invitee to the event.Type: GrantFiled: June 28, 2011Date of Patent: February 18, 2014Assignee: Facebook, Inc.Inventor: Blake Groves