Patents by Inventor Nicholas Galbreath

Nicholas Galbreath has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8566253
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Christopher Lunt
  • Patent number: 8468103
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2013
    Assignee: Facebook Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Christopher Lunt
  • Publication number: 20120330945
    Abstract: Particular embodiments access a search query submitted by a first user of a social-networking system; identify one or more web pages in response to the search query; for each of the one or more web pages, determine a value indicating a number of user clicks associated with the web page by one or more second users of the social-networking system who are connected to the first user within the social-networking system; and send a set of hyperlinks for the one or more web pages, wherein hyperlinks for web pages where the value is greater than zero are visually emphasized over other hyperlinks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2012
    Publication date: December 27, 2012
    Inventors: Christopher Lunt, Nicholas Galbreath, Jeffrey Winner
  • Publication number: 20120239764
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2012
    Publication date: September 20, 2012
    Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Christopher Lunt
  • Patent number: 8219500
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Christopher Lunt
  • Publication number: 20120130992
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2011
    Publication date: May 24, 2012
    Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Christopher Lunt
  • Publication number: 20120078957
    Abstract: An online social network is managed using one server for database management tasks and another server, preferably in a distributed configuration, for CPU-intensive computational tasks, such as finding a shortest path between two members or a degree of separation between two members. The additional server has a memory device containing relationship information between members of the online social network and carries out the CPU-intensive computational tasks using this memory device. With this configuration, the number of database lookups is decreased and processing speed is thereby increased.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2011
    Publication date: March 29, 2012
    Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Mirko Predosin
  • Patent number: 8010458
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Christopher Lunt
  • Publication number: 20110145931
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Publication date: June 16, 2011
    Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Christopher Lunt
  • Publication number: 20110119335
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2010
    Publication date: May 19, 2011
    Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Christopher Lunt
  • Publication number: 20110099167
    Abstract: An online social network is managed using one server for database management tasks and another server, preferably in a distributed configuration, for CPU-intensive computational tasks, such as finding a shortest path between two members or a degree of separation between two members. The additional server has a memory device containing relationship information between members of the online social network and carries out the CPU-intensive computational tasks using this memory device. With this configuration, the number of database lookups is decreased and processing speed is thereby increased.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2010
    Publication date: April 28, 2011
    Inventors: Nicholas Galbreath, Mirko Predosin
  • Publication number: 20110093506
    Abstract: Particular embodiments access a query submitted by a first user; retrieve information concerning one or more second users; retrieve a degree of separation between the first user and each second user within a social-networking system; and for each second user, if the degree of separation between the first user and the second user is less than or equal to a threshold degree of separation, then send the information concerning the second user to the first user in response to the query.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Publication date: April 21, 2011
    Applicant: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Lunt, Nicholas Galbreath, Jeffrey Winner
  • Publication number: 20110093346
    Abstract: Particular embodiments access a search query submitted by a first user; identify one or more sponsored web pages in response to the search query, wherein each sponsored web page is associated with a hyperlink; determine whether one or more of the sponsored web pages has been accessed by one or more second users, wherein the one or more second users are connected in a graph structure to the first user within a threshold degree of separation; and send a response comprising a hyperlink for at least one of the sponsored web pages in response to the search query, wherein the response further includes a visual tag or a reference to the visual tag for the hyperlink if the sponsored web page has been accessed by at least one of the one or more second users.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Publication date: April 21, 2011
    Applicant: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Lunt, Nicholas Galbreath, Jeffrey Winner
  • Publication number: 20110093709
    Abstract: Particular embodiments receive, at a first computing device associated with a social-networking system and from a second computing device associated with a third-party system, a query comprising a first identifier corresponding to a user of the third-party system, wherein the first identifier is computed by applying a hash algorithm to a user credential associated with the user of the third-party system; determine, by the first computing device, whether the user of the third-party system matches any member of the social-networking system; and if the second identifier corresponding to a member of the social-networking system matches the first identifier, then send, by the first computing device to the second computing device, social-network information of the member of the social-networking system in response to the query.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2010
    Publication date: April 21, 2011
    Inventors: Christopher Lunt, Nicholas Galbreath, Jeffrey Winner
  • Publication number: 20110093498
    Abstract: Particular embodiments access a query from a first user, the query comprising a first user attribute; identify a plurality of candidate users sharing the same first user attribute; retrieve one or more members of a social-networking system who are connected to the first user within a threshold degree of separation; compare each candidate user with each member who is connected to the first user within the threshold degree of separation; and if a candidate user matches a member who is connected to the first user within the threshold degree of separation, then identify the matching candidate user as a match result to the query.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Publication date: April 21, 2011
    Applicant: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Lunt, Nicholas Galbreath, Jeffrey Winner
  • Publication number: 20110093460
    Abstract: Particular embodiments access a search query submitted by a first user of a social-networking system; identify one or more web pages in response to the search query; retrieve, from the social-networking system, social-networking information of the first user to identify one or more second users of the social-networking system who are connected to the first user within a predetermined degree of separation within the social-networking system; for each of the one or more web pages, determine a value indicating a number of times that the web page has been accessed by the one or more second users; rank the one or more web pages based on the value determined for each web page; and send a ranked set of hyperlinks for the one or more web pages to a second computing device associated with the first user.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Publication date: April 21, 2011
    Applicant: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Lunt, Nicholas Galbreath, Jeffrey Winner
  • Publication number: 20110087658
    Abstract: Particular embodiments access a search query submitted by a first user of a social-networking system; identify one or more web pages in response to the search query; for each of the one or more web pages, determine a value indicating a number of user clicks associated with the web page by one or more second users of the social-networking system who are connected to the first user within the social-networking system; and send a set of hyperlinks for the one or more web pages, wherein hyperlinks for web pages where the value is greater than zero are visually emphasized over other hyperlinks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Publication date: April 14, 2011
    Applicant: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Lunt, Nicholas Galbreath, Jeffrey Winner
  • Patent number: 7890501
    Abstract: Search results, including sponsored links and algorithmic search results, are generated in response to a query, and are marked based on frequency of clicks on the search results by members of social network who are within a predetermined degree of separation from the member who submitted the query. The markers are visual tags and comprise either a text string or an image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Lunt, Nicholas Galbreath, Jeffrey Winner
  • Publication number: 20100257459
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2010
    Publication date: October 7, 2010
    Applicant: Friendster Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholas GALBREATH, Christopher Lunt
  • Patent number: 7788260
    Abstract: Search results, including sponsored links and algorithmic search results, are generated in response to a query, and are marked based on frequency of clicks on the search results by members of social network who are within a predetermined degree of separation from the member who submitted the query. The markers are visual tags and comprise either a text string or an image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2010
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Lunt, Nicholas Galbreath, Jeffrey Winner