Search Patents
  • Systems and methods for sharing content
    Patent number: 10819671
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media can provide a messaging interface, the messaging interface including a first region and a second region, the first region being segmented from the second region; provide access to one or more ephemeral message threads in the first region, the ephemeral message threads being ranked according to one or more criteria; and provide access to one or more non-ephemeral message threads in the second region, the non-ephemeral message threads being ranked according to one or more criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Keith Lanka Peiris, Tomasz Zawada, Justin David Aguilar, Maria Ioveva, Ayca Cakmakli
  • Methods and system for delivering multiple notifications
    Patent number: 9769104
    Abstract: An electronic message may be reconfigured to effect an enhanced notification using an input interface to receive at least one electronic message created by or on behalf of a message source for delivery to an intended recipient. A matching engine determines whether the electronic message corresponds to a predetermined definition of an enhanced notification. An enhancement engine reconfigures the electronic message to the enhanced notification if stored information related to the intended recipient indicates that the intended recipient is subscribed to receive the enhanced notification. Reconfiguring the electronic message may include reconfiguring the message to provide special handling, routing or presentation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: FACEBOOK, INC.
    Inventors: Barry Appelman, Muhammad Mohsin Hussain
  • Techniques for ephemeral messaging with remote ephemeral mode configuration
    Patent number: 10178062
    Abstract: Techniques for ephemeral messaging with remote ephemeral mode configuration are described. In one embodiment, an apparatus may comprise a messaging component operative to receive a messaging update at a messaging client on the client device from a messaging system; determine a message thread associated with the messaging update; and determine that the messaging update indicates a transition to an ephemeral mode for the message thread; and a user interface component operative to configure a user interface for the message thread to an ephemeral mode interface based on the transition to the ephemeral mode for the message thread. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: FACEBOOK, INC.
    Inventors: Evan Gabriel Brooks, Alexander Salem Franklin, Matthew Steiner
  • Methods and systems for optimizing messages to users of a social network
    Patent number: 9882863
    Abstract: Techniques to optimize messages sent to a user of a social networking system. In one embodiment, information about the user may be collected by the social networking system. The information may be applied to train a model for determining likelihood of a desired action by the user in response to candidate messages that may be provided for the user. The social networking system may provide to the user a message from the candidate messages with a selected likelihood of causing the desired action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Lex Arquette, David Y. Chen, Emily B. Grewal, Denise Moreno, Florin Ratiu, Yanxin Shi, Kiranjit Singh Sidhu, Ching-Chih Weng, Huan Yang
  • Content report management in a social networking system
    Patent number: 9524490
    Abstract: User reports concerning inappropriate content are received by a social networking system and are put into a content report management process that routes the reports into other handling processes based upon the reporting user's identification of the report type. Reports concerning content that is related to the reporting user are routed into a social resolution process that resolves the complaint through self-help and social resolution. Other reports are handled by a content review process that resolves complaints through automated methods as well as manual review by human agents.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Yigal Dan Rubinstein, Mitu Singh, Qing Guo, Arturo Bejar, Arda Cebeci
  • Managing Instant Messages
    Publication number: 20130067002
    Abstract: Managing instant messages may include receiving instant messages created by or on behalf of one or more message sources for delivery to an intended recipient. From among the received instant messages, qualifying instant messages may be identified that satisfy a capture rule, and two or more of the qualifying instant messages may be captured. The intended recipient may be informed of the captured instant messages unobtrusively, and also may be enabled to manage the captured instant messages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Publication date: March 14, 2013
    Applicant: FACEBOOK, INC.
    Inventors: Brian Dean Heikes, Kristine Amber Krantz, Kelly Monroe Mathews, Russell Scott Medeiros, Venkatesh Ramanathan, Richard W. Robinson, JR., Perry E. Miranda Roman, Edward L. Sears, Andrew L. Wick, Deborah Ruth Yurow
  • Managing Instant Messages
    Publication number: 20130073653
    Abstract: Managing instant messages may include receiving instant messages created by or on behalf of one or more message sources for delivery to an intended recipient. From among the received instant messages, qualifying instant messages may be identified that satisfy a capture rule, and two or more of the qualifying instant messages may be captured. The intended recipient may be informed of the captured instant messages unobtrusively, and also may be enabled to manage the captured instant messages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Publication date: March 21, 2013
    Applicant: FACEBOOK, INC.
    Inventors: Brian Dean Heikes, Kristine Amber Krantz, Kelly Monroe Mathews, Russell Scott Medeiros, Venkatesh Ramanathan, Richard W. Robinson, JR., Perry E. Miranda Roman, Edward L. Sears, Andrew L. Wick, Deborah Ruth Yurow
  • Location-based content aggregation and distribution
    Patent number: 9917907
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes storing one or more content postings that each include data representative of one or more content instances. Each content posting is associated with one or more first users. The method also includes storing one or more data records associating one or more geographic locations with accessing of the content instances. The method also includes selectively sending one or more of the content postings for display on an access device associated with a second user based on a past geographic location of the access device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Kristopher T. Frazier, Brian F. Roberts, Donald H. Relyea
  • Increasing engagement of low engagement users in a social network
    Patent number: 8903927
    Abstract: Techniques to increase engagement with a social networking system. In one embodiment, an engagement level of a user with a social networking system is monitored. A low engagement user type associated with the user is identified from a plurality of low engagement user types. It is determined whether the engagement level of the user is less than a threshold. If so, a communication is provided for the user based on the low engagement user type associated with the user. The communication may be a notification or a digest communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: David Y. Chen, Emily Grewal, Hisham Rabih Harik, Huan Yang, Kiranjit Singh Sidhu
  • Social network site recommender system and method
    Patent number: 8959167
    Abstract: Particular embodiments evaluate a plurality of messages. Each message may be associated with an author. Information may be logged for each message, such as information associated with the author, information associated with one or more designated recipients of the message, and time information. Correlation values may be determined for one or more sets of designated recipients based on at least a portion of the logged information. Particular embodiments may determine an association amongst a plurality of users over time. The determination may be based on the correlation values. At least one of the plurality of users may comprise at least one of the designated recipients.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventor: John Nicholas Gross
  • Managing Instant Messages
    Publication number: 20130067003
    Abstract: Managing instant messages may include receiving instant messages created by or on behalf of one or more message sources for delivery to an intended recipient. From among the received instant messages, qualifying instant messages may be identified that satisfy a capture rule, and two or more of the qualifying instant messages may be captured. The intended recipient may be informed of the captured instant messages unobtrusively, and also may be enabled to manage the captured instant messages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Publication date: March 14, 2013
    Applicant: FACEBOOK, INC.
    Inventors: Brian Dean Heikes, Kristine Amber Krantz, Kelly Monroe Mathews, Russell Scott Medeiros, Venkatesh Ramanathan, Richard W. Robinson, JR., Perry E. Miranda Roman, Edward L. Sears, Andrew L. Wick, Deborah Ruth Yurow
  • COMMUNICATING INFORMATION DESCRIBING ACTIVITY OF COMPUTER SYSTEM USERS AMONG COMPUTER SYSTEM USERS
    Publication number: 20140222934
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method receiving receives information describing a current or future activity from a user of a computing system via a mobile device. The current activity is an activity occurring at a current time when the information is received, while the future activity is an activity occurring at a future time relative to a time when the information is received. The method transmits the information describing the current or future activity to a backend database coupled to the Internet and remote from the mobile device. The information describing the current or future activity is accessible to at least one recipient having access privilege to information associated with the user and describing the current or future activity via the Internet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2014
    Publication date: August 7, 2014
    Applicant: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventor: Neeraj Jhanji
  • Systems and methods for sharing content
    Patent number: 10742587
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media can provide a messaging interface, the messaging interface including one or more options for accessing at least one unified message thread, wherein both ephemeral messages and non-ephemeral messages are exchanged between a group of users through the unified message thread. A determination can be made that a user operating the computing device has accessed the unified message thread. Content relating to the unified message thread can be provided for display through the computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Keith Lanka Peiris, Tomasz Zawada, Justin David Aguilar, Ayca Cakmakli, Ian McIntyre Silber, Jiajun Wang, Maria Ioveva
  • Detection of lockstep behavior
    Patent number: 9077744
    Abstract: Disclosed here are methods, systems, paradigms and structures for determining fraudulent content in a social network. The methods include identifying a plurality of users of the social network who perform a plurality of tasks within the social network in a lockstep manner. In the method, the plurality of users are determined to be performing a given task in the lockstep manner when the plurality of users each perform the given task within a predefined duration of time, where the predefined duration of time is associated with the given task. The method further includes identifying content data generated by the performance of the plurality of tasks by each of the plurality of users. The method further includes determining at least a portion of the content data generated by the performance of the plurality of tasks as fraudulent content.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: FACEBOOK, INC.
    Inventors: Alexander Beutel, Wanhong Xu
  • Variable level sound alert for an instant messaging session
    Patent number: 8554849
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian D. Heikes, Xiaoyan Yin, Deborah R. Yurow, Kelly Matthews, Barry Appelman
  • Systems and methods of calculating communications strengths
    Patent number: 10341289
    Abstract: Organizing a participant list includes maintaining a participant list of users of an electronic communications system to be used by a first user of the electronic communications system. Communications strengths between the first user and each of the users included in the participant list are determined. The users included in the participant list are organized based on the corresponding communications strengths. Communications strengths may be determined for users included in a group within a participant list, and the users within the group may be organized within the group based on communications strength. An additional group in the participant list in which some or all of the users included in the participant list are organized based on communications strength may be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: FACEBOOK, INC.
    Inventors: Barry Appelman, Edmund J. Fish
  • Content prioritization based on packet size
    Patent number: 10498614
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes determining one or more bandwidth constraints on a bandwidth of a communication channel available to a first computing device; determining a plurality of data items to transmit from the first computing device; ranking each data item based at least in part on an affinity between a user and an originator of the data item in a social-networking system; selecting, based at least in part on the ranking of the data items, one or more particular ones of the data items to transmit from the first computing device from the first computing device; and writing the particular ones of the data items to a queue for subsequent transmission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Eran Tal, Benoit M. Schillings, Michael John McKenzie Toksvig, David Harry Garcia
  • Methods and systems for capturing and managing instant messages
    Patent number: 8577972
    Abstract: Managing instant messages may include receiving instant messages created by or on behalf of one or more message sources for delivery to an intended recipient. From among the received instant messages, qualifying instant messages may be identified that satisfy a capture rule, and two or more of the qualifying instant messages may be captured. The intended recipient may be informed of the captured instant messages unobtrusively, and also may be enabled to manage the captured instant messages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian D. Heikes, Kristine Amber Krantz, Kelly Monroe Matthews, Russell Scott Medeiros, Venkatesh Ramanathan, Richard W. Robinson, Perry E. Roman, Edward L. Sears, Andrew L. Wick, Deborah R. Yurow
  • Live-conversation modules on online social networks
    Patent number: 10628636
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing one or more posts of an online social network; extracting n-grams from each post; determining, for each post, whether it is associated with a trending topic based on whether one or more of the extracted n-grams are associated with the trending topic; caching each post determined to be associated with the trending topic in a corresponding conversation cache; calculating a quality-score for each cached post; and generating a live-conversation module comprising one or more of the cached posts having a quality-score above a threshold quality-score.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Mohammad Moharrami, Markus Christian Messner Chaney, Li-Tal Mashiach, Yuval Kesten
  • Changing event notification volumes
    Patent number: 8775539
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian D. Heikes, Xiaoyan Yin, Deborah R. Yurow, Kelly Matthews, Barry Appelman