U.S. patent application number 16/841629 was filed with the patent office on 2022-02-10 for system and method for location-based content delivery and visualization.
This patent application is currently assigned to YouMap, Inc.. The applicant listed for this patent is YouMap, Inc.. Invention is credited to Stephen Constantinides.
Application Number | 20220046394 16/841629 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 1000006104950 |
Filed Date | 2022-02-10 |
United States Patent
Application |
20220046394 |
Kind Code |
A9 |
Constantinides; Stephen |
February 10, 2022 |
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCATION-BASED CONTENT DELIVERY AND
VISUALIZATION
Abstract
A system and method for providing location information on a
social network, including: sending, to a social mapping system, a
request for one or more social media posts, wherein the request
includes screen attribute information about a display of a client
device, geographic location information, and an identification of a
requesting account of the social network; receiving, in response to
the request, a suggested group for display by the client device;
and displaying, by the client device, the suggested group.
Inventors: |
Constantinides; Stephen;
(New York, NY) |
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Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
YouMap, Inc. |
New York |
NY |
US |
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Assignee: |
YouMap, Inc.
New York
NY
|
Prior
Publication: |
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Document Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20200236514 A1 |
July 23, 2020 |
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Family ID: |
1000006104950 |
Appl. No.: |
16/841629 |
Filed: |
April 6, 2020 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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16164624 |
Oct 18, 2018 |
10616727 |
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16841629 |
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16036923 |
Jul 16, 2018 |
11138217 |
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16164624 |
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15189691 |
Jun 22, 2016 |
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16036923 |
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16035380 |
Jul 13, 2018 |
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15189691 |
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62532991 |
Jul 14, 2017 |
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62549447 |
Aug 24, 2017 |
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62574199 |
Oct 18, 2017 |
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62183068 |
Jun 22, 2015 |
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62532007 |
Jul 13, 2017 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 51/10 20130101;
H04W 4/185 20130101; H04L 51/32 20130101; H04L 51/20 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H04W 4/18 20060101
H04W004/18; H04L 12/58 20060101 H04L012/58 |
Claims
1. A system for providing location information on a social network,
comprising: a computer processor; and a client device module
executing on the computer processor and configured to enable the
computer processor to: send, to a social mapping system, a request
for one or more social media posts, wherein the request includes
screen attribute information about a display of a client device,
geographic location information, and an identification of a
requesting account of the social network; receive, in response to
the request, a suggested group for display by the client device,
wherein the social mapping system: identifies a set of temporally
recent social media posts based on the screen attribute information
and the geographic location information; applies two sets of
grouping criteria to the set of social media posts to generate a
suggested group, wherein: the suggested group is a subset of the
set of social media posts, and applying the two sets of grouping
criteria comprises: generating a combined ranking based on: ranking
each social media post of the set of social media posts according
to a first customized score for each social media post, wherein the
first customized score is based on a first set of preference
factors, corresponding to the requesting account, applied to a
general score of each social media post, and ranking each social
media post of the set of social media posts according to a second
customized score for each social media post, wherein the second
customized score is based on a second set of preference factors,
corresponding to the requesting account, applied to the general
score of each social media post, and selecting, based on the
combined ranking, the subset of the set of social media posts for
inclusion in the suggested group, wherein the selecting comprises
excluding at least one social media post of the set of social media
posts from inclusion in the suggested group based on the combined
ranking; and display, by the client device, the suggested
group.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographic location
information specifies a location of the client device.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein ranking each social media post of
the set of social media posts according to a first customized score
for each social media post further comprises: ranking each social
media post based on a distance between a geographic location
corresponding with the social media post and the geographic
location information.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of preference factors are
selected based on past behavior of the requesting account.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein ranking each social media post
further comprises using a customized score equal to the general
score when no applicable preference factor exists for a social
media post.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the screen attribute information
specifies a geographic map region displayed on the client
device.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the general score of each social
media post is based on at least one selected from a group
consisting of user upvotes, user downvotes, total number of user
votes, recency of user votes, user reviews, user-submitted
emotional states, a number of user location check-ins, and
geographic proximity to other popular venues.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein: the request further includes a
category indication, and identifying the set of temporally recent
social media posts is further based on the category indication.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the category indication comprises
at least one selected from a group consisting of a size of a venue,
a type of music played, a type of food served, connections of a
profile included in the social network, types of connections of a
profile included in the social network, a time of one or more
social media posts, activities associated with one or more social
media posts, an amount of one or more social media posts within a
particular amount of time.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of temporally recent
social media posts comprise at least one selected from a group
consisting of social media posts posted within the most recent 15
minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 12
hours, and 24 hours.
11. A method for providing location information on a social
network, comprising: sending, to a social mapping system, a request
for one or more social media posts, wherein the request includes
screen attribute information about a display of a client device,
geographic location information, and an identification of a
requesting account of the social network; receiving, in response to
the request, a suggested group for display by the client device,
wherein the social mapping system: identifies a set of temporally
recent social media posts based on the screen attribute information
and the geographic location information; applies two sets of
grouping criteria to the set of social media posts to generate a
suggested group, wherein: the suggested group is a subset of the
set of social media posts, and applying the two sets of grouping
criteria comprises: generating a combined ranking based on: ranking
each social media post of the set of social media posts according
to a first customized score for each social media post, wherein the
first customized score is based on a set of preference factors,
corresponding to the requesting account, applied to a general score
of each social media post, and ranking each social media post of
the set of social media posts according to a second customized
score for each social media post, wherein the second customized
score is based on a second set of preference factors, corresponding
to the requesting account, applied to the general score of each
social media post, and selecting, based on the combined ranking,
the subset of the set of social media posts for inclusion in the
suggested group, wherein the selecting comprises excluding at least
one social media post of the set of social media posts from
inclusion in the suggested group based on the combined ranking; and
displaying, by the client device, the suggested group.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the set of temporally recent
social media posts are removed from the suggested group for display
based at least in part on a closing time of a business
corresponding to the social media posts.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein ranking each social media post
of the set of social media posts according to a first customized
score for each social media post further comprises: ranking each
social media post based on a distance between a geographic location
corresponding with the social media post and the geographic
location information.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the set of preference factors
are selected based on past behavior of the requesting account.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein ranking each social media post
further comprises using a customized score equal to the general
score when no applicable preference factor exists for a social
media post.
16. The method of claim 11, wherein the general score of a social
media post is based on a posting account that authored the social
media post, and wherein the general score of the social media post
is reduced based on movement of a client device used to author the
social media post.
17. The method of claim 11, wherein the general score of each
social media post is based on at least one selected from a group
consisting of user upvotes, user downvotes, total number of user
votes, recency of user votes, user reviews, user-submitted
emotional states, a number of user location check-ins, and
geographic proximity to other popular venues.
18. The method of claim 11, wherein: the request further includes a
category indication, and identifying the set of temporally recent
social media posts is further based on the category indication.
19. The method of claim 11, wherein the set of temporally recent
social media posts comprise at least one selected from a group
consisting of social media posts posted within the most recent 15
minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 12
hours, and 24 hours.
20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a
plurality of instructions for providing location information on a
social network, the plurality of instructions configured to execute
on at least one computer processor to enable the at least one
computer processor to: send, to a social mapping system, a request
for one or more social media posts, wherein the request includes
screen attribute information about a display of a client device,
geographic location information, and an identification of a
requesting account of the social network; receive, in response to
the request, a suggested group for display by the client device,
wherein the social mapping system: identifies a set of temporally
recent social media posts based on the screen attribute information
and the geographic location information; applies two sets of
grouping criteria to the set of social media posts to generate a
suggested group, wherein: the suggested group is a subset of the
set of social media posts, and applying the two sets of grouping
criteria comprises: generating a combined ranking based on: ranking
each social media post of the set of social media posts according
to a customized score for each social media post, wherein the
customized score is based on a first set of preference factors,
corresponding to the requesting account, applied to a general score
of each social media post, and ranking each social media post of
the set of social media posts according to a second customized
score for each social media post, wherein the second customized
score is based on a second set of preference factors, corresponding
to the requesting account, applied to the general score of each
social media post, and selecting, based on the combined ranking,
the subset of the set of social media posts for inclusion in the
suggested group, wherein the selecting comprises excluding at least
one social media post of the set of social media posts from
inclusion in the suggested group based on the combined ranking; and
display, by the client device, the suggested group.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of copending U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 16/164,624, "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR
LOCATION-BASED CONTENT DELIVERY AND VISUALIZATION", Attorney Docket
youmap.00006.us.n.1, filed Oct. 18, 2018, the entire disclosure of
which is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety, for all
purposes.
[0002] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/164,624 claims the
benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/574,199,
"SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCATION-BASED CONTENT DELIVERY AND
VISUALIZATION", Attorney Docket youmap.00006.us.p.1, filed Oct. 18,
2017, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference
herein, in its entirety, for all purposes.
[0003] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/164,624 is a
continuation-in-part of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No.
15/189,691, "REAL TIME GEO-SOCIAL VISUALIZATION PLATFORM", Attorney
Docket youmap.00001.us.c.1, filed Jun. 22, 2016, the entire
disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, in its
entirety, for all purposes. U.S. patent application Ser. No.
15/189,691 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent
Application Ser. No. 62/183,068, "REAL TIME GEO-SOCIAL
VISUALIZATION PLATFORM", Attorney Docket youmap.00001.us.p.1, filed
Jun. 22, 2015, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by
reference herein, in its entirety, for all purposes.
[0004] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/164,624 is a
continuation-in-part of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No.
16/035,380, "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING COMMUNITY EMOTIVE
DATA GEOGRAPHICALLY ON A SOCIAL MAPPING NETWORK", Attorney Docket
youmap.00003.us.n.1, filed Jul. 13, 2018, the entire disclosure of
which is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety, for all
purposes. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/035,380 claims the
benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/532,007,
"SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING COMMUNITY EMOTIVE DATA
GEOGRAPHICALLY ON A SOCIAL MAPPING NETWORK", Attorney Docket
youmap.00003.us.p.1, filed Jul. 13, 2017, the entire disclosure of
which is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety, for all
purposes. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/035,380 claims the
benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/531,859,
"SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PRESENTING COMMUNITY EMOTIVE DATA
GEOGRAPHICALLY ON A SOCIAL MAPPING NETWORK", Attorney Docket
youmap.00003.us.p.2, filed Jul. 17, 2017, the entire disclosure of
which is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety, for all
purposes.
[0005] U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/164,624 is a
continuation-in-part of copending U.S. patent application Ser. No.
16/036,923, "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AGGREGATION AND GRADUATED
VISUALIZATION OF USER GENERATED SOCIAL POST ON A SOCIAL MAPPING
NETWORK", Attorney Docket youmap.00004.us.n.1, filed Jul. 16, 2018,
the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein,
in its entirety, for all purposes. U.S. patent application Ser. No.
16/036,923 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent
Application Ser. No. 62/549,447, "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AGGREGATION
AND GRADUATED VISUALIZATION OF USER GENERATED SOCIAL POST ON A
SOCIAL MAPPING NETWORK", Attorney Docket youmap.00005.us.p.1, filed
Aug. 24, 2017, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated by
reference herein, in its entirety, for all purposes. U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 16/036,923 claims the benefit of U.S.
Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/532,991, "SYSTEM AND
METHOD FOR AGGREGATION AND GRADUATED VISUALIZATION OF USER
GENERATED SOCIAL POST ON A SOCIAL MAPPING NETWORK", Attorney Docket
youmap.00004.us.p.1, filed Jul. 14, 2017, the entire disclosure of
which is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety, for all
purposes.
BACKGROUND
[0006] Recent advancements in computing technology and Global
Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) have led to a movement for
creating Internet-connected devices associated with their
locations. Less expensive hardware has contributed to a trend in
which traditional devices that connected via telephony and the
Internet (e.g., email) now include location sharing. This has also
lead to significant technical challenges in the development of
client software and services to fully utilize these devices'
capabilities.
[0007] As the number and type of network-connected computing
devices has increased, there has been a fragmentation of content
availability and quality among the various platforms. While some
platforms provide social networking with friends, they may not
provide information on where a particular friend is located.
Further, current systems are not configured well to display where
friends are located, where posts on a network are made, and where
posts associated with locations are made.
[0008] Even adding a single letter to map pins, scaling to the
considerable quantity of data shown on a social network, such as
those even with word limitations, quickly becomes impossible. The
information could become incomprehensible and you may lose the
essence of the posted information.
[0009] Thus, there is a need in the art for devices and systems
that allow users to view posts in a digestible manner. Problems
described herein are difficult to solve, and require unobvious
solutions--which is the main reason such a social network has not
been created. The inventions require the technological developments
of today's portable devices including GNSS receivers and various
networks, and would not have been possible even a few years
ago.
[0010] The disclosures herein are not a small leap over the prior
art, but rather a technological disruption in the social media
space. A complete rethinking was required to produce solutions to
the difficult problems presented herein. Creating such a platform
made for mobile devices with limited screen space is even more
difficult, due to space limitations. This is compounded by the fact
that it's difficult to convey contextual and emotional information
with few words, and maps typically have little space to convey
information.
SUMMARY
[0011] In general, in one aspect, embodiments relate to a system
for providing location information on a social network. The system
can include: a computer processor; and a social mapping module
executing on the computer processor and configured to enable the
computer processor to: receive, from a client device, a request for
one or more social media posts, where the request includes screen
attribute information about a display of the client device,
geographic location information, and an identification of a
requesting account of the social network; identify a set of
temporally recent social media posts based on the screen attribute
information and the geographic location information; apply, by the
computer processor, grouping criteria to the set of social media
posts to generate a suggested group, where: the suggested group is
a subset of the set of social media posts, and applying the
grouping criteria includes: ranking each social media post of the
set of social media posts according to a customized score for each
social media post, where the customized score is based on a set of
preference factors, corresponding to the requesting account,
applied to a general score of each social media post, and
selecting, based the ranking, the subset of the set of social media
posts for inclusion in the suggested group, where the selecting
includes excluding at least one social media post of the set of
social media posts from inclusion in the suggested group based on
the ranking; provide, in response to the request, the suggested
group for display by the client device.
[0012] In general, in one aspect, embodiments relate to a method
for providing location information on a social network. The method
can include: receiving, from a client device, a request for one or
more social media posts, where the request includes screen
attribute information about a display of the client device,
geographic location information, and an identification of a
requesting account of the social network; identifying a set of
temporally recent social media posts based on the screen attribute
information and the geographic location information; applying, by a
computer processor, grouping criteria to the set of social media
posts to generate a suggested group, where: the suggested group is
a subset of the set of social media posts, and applying the
grouping criteria includes: ranking each social media post of the
set of social media posts according to a customized score for each
social media post, where the customized score is based on a set of
preference factors, corresponding to the requesting account,
applied to a general score of each social media post, and
selecting, based the ranking, the subset of the set of social media
posts for inclusion in the suggested group, where the selecting
includes excluding at least one social media post of the set of
social media posts from inclusion in the suggested group based on
the ranking; providing, in response to the request, the suggested
group for display by the client device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] Embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not by
way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and
in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements.
[0014] FIGS. 1-2 illustrate exemplary schematic diagrams of a
system, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the
invention.
[0015] FIGS. 3A-3E illustrate exemplary client devices, in
accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention.
[0016] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary post, in accordance with one
or more embodiments of the invention.
[0017] FIG. 5-6 illustrate exemplary client devices, in accordance
with one or more embodiments of the invention.
[0018] FIGS. 7-9 illustrate flowcharts of exemplary processes, in
accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention.
[0019] FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a client
device, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the
invention.
[0020] FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a
computing system, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the
invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0021] Specific embodiments will now be described in detail with
reference to the accompanying figures. Like elements in the various
figures are denoted by like reference numerals for consistency. In
the following detailed description of embodiments, numerous
specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough
understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one
of ordinary skill in the art that the invention can be practiced
without these specific details. In other instances, well-known
features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily
complicating the description.
[0022] In general, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a
method and system for aggregating, delivering, and/or creating
visualizations of content in a location-based content platform. For
example, mobile applications executing on devices of many millions
of users can be enabled to send and receive content in real time to
components of the location-based content platform. One or more of
the mobile applications can be configured to provide contextual
data associated with the user, device, and/or environment, and to
receive data from the location-based content platform for display
to the user. The received data can include map-based visualizations
rendered by the mobile device and displayed to the user for rapid
consumption and understanding of proximity-based, social,
sentiment, or other data.
[0023] In various embodiments, systems described herein are social
networks (e.g., wherein a user is connected to one or more, as with
Facebook.TM. or Quora.TM.). A user/profile may have connections and
non-connections. In various embodiments, posts may appear on a
screen (also interchangeably referred to herein as a display) of a
client device such that they appear to be covering a map. In other
words, in some embodiments a user may view posts on their display
and see posts overlaying a map, such that a user may easily
identify posts that are associated with a given area.
[0024] As described herein, due to: (1) a potential amount of posts
(e.g., hundreds or thousands; and (2) the amount of screen real
estate on a client device, some posts may need to be shown more
predominantly than others. For example, some posts may be larger
than other posts so a user can easily view them. If, for instance,
all posts were the same size and all shown at the same time, then
hundreds or thousands of posts would overcrowd a display making the
map, and therefore the posts, virtually useless (e.g., as shown in
FIG. 3B).
[0025] Thus, in various embodiments (e.g., as shown in FIG. 3C)
rather than show many posts of the same size, which may be
indistinguishable from one another, some posts may be shown as
being larger, with a different color, be associated with an emotion
(which may be indicated by an emoticon/emoji), be shown as a small
cluster, or otherwise be more displayed more predominantly than
other posts. Further, in various embodiments, when a user has
zoomed out, they may see posts that have a high importance level
(also referred to herein interchangeably with a value or a score),
and when they zoom in on an area, a system may show a user posts
with lower importance values. As such, various posts may be
filtered out when a user is viewing a map from a certain
"altitude." In other words, from a distance a user may see things
that are important to them--wherein importance can be based on a
variety of factors--while when close up a user may be able to see
posts that were not so important to them, but may be shown for one
or more other reasons (e.g., other than the user's
preferences).
[0026] In some embodiments, posts made by connections may be more
relevant than others. For example, posts that are related to a
particular category (also interchangeably referred to herein as a
channel) may be more important/relevant to a user than others
(e.g., the post may have a higher value), and thus those posts may
be displayed more predominantly than other posts.
[0027] Similarly, in some embodiments, posts may be more
relevant/important based on time. For example, if posts were made
within the previous 1-2 hours they may be displayed on a screen
more predominantly than posts that were made a day or two before.
In some embodiments, posts that were made on the same day of the
week (e.g., Friday), time of the year (e.g., Christmas), and/or
have some type of unique/important/relevant temporal aspect may be
shown more predominantly than other posts.
[0028] Further, posts may be ephemeral in nature. For example, if a
system knows that a happy hour will end at a certain time (e.g.,
because a user or restaurant owner makes a post indicating so),
then a post may quickly become less predominant when the happy hour
ends--as opposed to a post about a party which slowly dies down
over the course of 2-3 hours. Similarly, a system that provides
posts about clubs, restaurants, museums, zoos, or any other place
that closes may cause the posts about those places to disappear
quickly when the location and/or venue closes. In some embodiments,
if a user sets up their system such that they rank where their
friends are very highly (in one way or another), when their friends
move from one place to another a post made by a friend or someone
else at a location may disappear much quicker than if it had been
made by someone ranked lower (e.g., a stranger to the user).
[0029] Just as various posts may be ephemeral in nature, in some
embodiments posts will last longer than other posts. For example,
if a user makes a channel that ranks salsa dancing very highly,
then a post about a salsa club may be displayed more predominantly
and/or for a longer period of time than a jazz club which may have
more people or otherwise be more fun to a greater number of users
of the social network.
[0030] As can be seen, bubbles or other symbols used to symbolize
posts may be based on an amount of time, or an amount of an
activity per time (e.g., the speed of a bartender, the amount of
bikes at a bike party, the number of people in a particular area
over a given amount of time). In other words, a location or post's
importance may be based on a type of activity, how relevant an
activity is to a user (e.g., based on a user profile corresponding
to a user), whether a location/activity is trending (e.g., it is
gaining in value/importance faster than other locations/activities,
etc.
[0031] While various social media platforms now may provide users
with trending topics (e.g., Reddit.TM., Facebook.TM.), embodiments
described herein tend to focus on how a social media platform can
operate on a map. For example, while Reddit.TM. may have a front
page with posts that are trending or otherwise have a higher value
than posts on a second page, posts that are trending or otherwise
have a higher value than other posts may be shown when a user is
further zoomed out, and the user may see posts with lower values
(e.g., posts that would be on a second or third page of Reddit.TM.)
as the system zooms in on a smaller area.
[0032] Also, in various embodiments described herein, a user may be
able to curate their own map. For example, a user may create a
plurality of channels which may, or may not, be combined to sus out
venues and/or activities they may not have otherwise known about.
For example, a user can create a channel associated with Japanese
culture and shows museums, concerts, plays, festivals, and other
events and/or locations that are related to Japanese culture. At
the same time, that user may have a channel for bars, or even
karaoke bars. In such a case, a system may be configured to receive
input that causes maps to interact with each other (e.g., determine
an activity/location that the two maps have in common). In the
example described above, a user causes a device to combine Japanese
Culture and Karaoke, in which case a map may show a user various
Karaoke bars around a city. In some embodiments, a user may have a
third channel or more, which may indicate that a user is interested
in private places, or after-hour clubs. In such a case, a system
may further filter out Karaoke bars that are not open late or that
are too busy.
[0033] By adding one channel (which may be referred to as a type of
map) onto another, a user may be able to predetermine their perfect
night based on a variety of attributes described herein such as
whether a user's group of friends are moving from one late night
Karaoke bar to another. In addition to friends, a type of
community, a history of an area or community, the amount of
followers a person has that is making posts, an age of a person
that is making posts (e.g., under 21), may all contribute to the
value associated with a venue, location, party, activity, sporting
event, etc.
[0034] FIG. 1 shows a system 100 for receiving location information
on a social network. The system 100 includes a communication means
101, a data store 102, a processor 103, memory 104, a viewpoint
generation module 105, and a social mapping module 106. Various
components of system 100 can be located on a client device (e.g., a
mobile device, personal computer, laptop, personal digital
assistant, smartphone, kiosk, cable box, television) and/or a
remote computer (e.g., a server, the cloud). In one or more
embodiments there can be more than one of each separate component
running on a device, as well as any combination of these components
within a given embodiment of the invention. Further, in one or more
embodiment a client device may receive information from a social
network, such as a post, and/or a remote computer may receive
information from a social network, such as a post.
[0035] In one or more embodiments, a social mapping module 106 may
be included in system 100. A social mapping module 106 may execute
on a computer processor and be configured to enable a computer
processor to perform a variety of tasks. In one or more
embodiments, a social mapping module may receive social mapping
data (e.g., a post, which may be received from data store 102),
where the social mapping data is associated with one or more
geographic locations. For example, social mapping data may be used
to identify and/or locate places where the social mapping data
(e.g., posts) are being received from, and where viewpoints are
focused.
[0036] In one or more embodiments, a viewpoint is a graphical
representation of social mapping data displayed on a client device.
A viewpoint may show an area of a map encompassing 100 meters,
1000, meters, 10 km, etc. In one or more embodiments a viewpoint
may be based on a type of area shown on a map. For example, a
viewpoint may be of a smaller area (e.g., a relatively smaller area
of a map is shown on a display) if the area is an urban environment
and/or includes many locations associated with posts, or a
viewpoint may be of a larger area (e.g., a relatively larger area
of a map is shown on a display) if the area is a rural environment.
The same may be applicable to areas where a threshold amount of
posts (e.g., social mapping data) are located regardless of a type
of an area represented on a map.
[0037] In addition to a social mapping module 106 and a viewpoint
generation module 105, system 100 may include a communication means
which can transmit and/or receive information to/from a client
device, a network, a multi-tenant network (e.g., the cloud), a
network interface controller, a network gateway, etc.
[0038] In one or more embodiments, a client device may submit a
post to data store 102. Such a post may include a graphical symbol
received by a client device. The post may be associated with an
emotional state received by the client device, which may be
represented by a color. In one or more embodiments, an emotional
state may be represented as a value. For example, a user of a
smartphone may provide input to smartphone causing the creation of
a post, and the user may cause the smartphone to cause the post to
be associated with a location, an emotional state value (e.g.,
where 0 is sad and 10 is happy, and where other numbers may
represent angry, depressed, bored, etc.) and other things
including, but not limited to: a store, a person, another user of
the social network, an image, a video, audio, a time, a date, a
symbol, a pictograph, an ideograph, an ideogram, a smiley, an
emoji, an emoticon, an emoji bubble (e.g., a shape
including/containing an emoji). In one or more embodiments, a user
may not know an emotional state value. For example, a user may
select an emotional state of sad without knowing that a system
represents sad with a value such as 0. In one or more embodiments,
emotional state values may be represented by both symbols and
values.
[0039] In one or more embodiments, system 100 (which the social
network may at least in part run on) may receive posts, which may
be stored in data store 102. System 100 (e.g., via social mapping
module 106) may create a map and/or associate posts with locations
on a map, which may then be transmitted to a client device and
displayed on a screen of a client device. Based on input from a
client device, system 100 (e.g., mapping module 106 and/or
viewpoint generation module 105), which may be hosted remotely from
a client device, may associate material to display on a client
device including, but not limited to: at least a portion of a map,
at least one or more posts which may be represented by one or more
symbols, one or more colors representative of an attribute
associated with a post (e.g., an emotion), an emoji, an emoji
bubble, an image (e.g., of a location), a video (e.g., of the
interior of a location, which may have been recorded within a
particular period of time such as the previous hour), etc.
[0040] In some embodiments, users may be provided with a mode of
posting providing the ability to tag symbols, emoji's, further
enabling the ability to tag emotions (e.g., sentiment) and/or
contextual cues (displayed in different formats such as color). In
addition to including/displaying this content within a social
media/online post, this information may also be displayed as the
main mode of information transmittal, with word usage being
secondary. Different contextual data sets may be combined into a
single visualization for quick comprehension of the meaning of the
posted data. These (e.g., the contextual data sets and/or
visualizations) may include, but are not limited to: the
tagging/inputting of emotional data using color, selecting symbols
or "emojis" to visualize contextual information, by adding photos
and/or multimedia, and/or tag/entering of questions on a map (e.g.,
such that another user of the social network may respond).
[0041] As described above, a system can be configured to pull these
types of attributes together into a single data set visualized on
the map. Each data set can be represented alone or concurrently
with other data sets.
[0042] In one or more embodiments, screen attributes of a client
device may be determined. Determining screen attributes of a client
device may be performed at the client device or remote from the
client device (e.g., at social mapping module 106 and/or viewpoint
generation module 105). Screen attributes may include, but are not
limited to: a size and shape of a screen, a current zoom level, a
pan location, an availability of screen space, a viewing angle, an
amount of transparency of a screen, and/or an amount of screen
space. Further, screen attributes may be used to determine what is
shown on a display, including, but not limited to: an amount of a
map, a number of posts, a number of symbols representing posts,
whether multiple posts/symbols should be represented by fewer
(e.g., a single or a few) posts and/or symbols, a number of emojis,
notifications associated with a social network, an amount of icons,
types of illustrations, and/or a resolution of one or more
displayed objects.
[0043] In one or more embodiments, transforming the visualization
of content of a post dependent on a user's screen information can
involve the following: a user's viewport or a user's desired
viewpoint, a user's zoom level, a user's pan location (e.g., an
area where they have moved their view above), and/or a user's
screen dimensions.
[0044] In one or more embodiments, using this information to change
the displayed post can include, but is not limited to: displaying
indicators of total user activity variously as heat maps, dots, or
other indications to show total amount activity, or all posts at
any given time; showing, at a zoom level that is further out, an
aggregate of user posts as a single bubble, and/or displaying a
slideshow of user posts (e.g., multiple pictures and/or text)
within or adjacent to that bubble. In this way, a system may act
like a visual summarization of posted content at higher zoom
levels. As another example of what happens when a user zooms in on
a location, individual bubbles (or other types of posts) may convey
a specific post from a user (which may be designated for a specific
person or group of people). Further, in some embodiments a system
may simply show only as many bubbles on screen at a given time
based on a user's available screen space. This may prevent the
overlap of posted information, making the system easier to use. In
some embodiments user's may cycle through which post and/or channel
to show and hide as the user's viewport changes. Further, a user's
device may reveal hidden text, allowing those words to
unfurl/become visible in response to screen real estate becoming
available.
[0045] Methods discussed herein allow users to get an overall
"gist" of total activity in a certain area. If bubbles popped up
randomly, without showing the total activity in an area, users
would be aware of information but never know the total aggregate of
human or content activity in a specified area. This could be done
by showing a heat map, or other visualization methods to show
overall system activity. The platform may use dots, that even at
their most minimum are colored, showing tagged emotional
information.
[0046] In addition to, or instead of dots and heat maps, Emojis may
populate a map to allow contextual information to be shown with
little word usage. Emojis enable expression of social posts and
bring context to posts without using words. When combined with
bubble UI elements of the location-based content platform (and/or
sentiment module and/or a mood expression system), as a whole it
allows a user to communicate "what's happening", the emotion behind
the thought. The system combines this symbolization selection with
mood selectors to bring multiple emotional and contextual
indicators into a post replacing the need for words, which are
secondary.
[0047] As described herein, in one or more embodiments, the system
finds the most relevant posts for a given (geographical) area and
lists them in order of importance (e.g., gives them an importance
value as compared to other posts). The system can then add those
posts to a map in order of importance. If any post would fall on
top of another post, then it may not be displayed or vanish. This
ensures that only the most relevant posts are displayed and are
never hidden or cluttered. The system determines what
transformation effect to show (e.g., a fade out vs. an abrupt
stop), which bubble items to show, and which form to show at any
given time based on one or more attributes. Such attributes may
include, but are not limited to: a number of votes a post has
received, when the post was posted, how long ago, and/or how many
comments the post has.
[0048] Integrating emotional or contextual cues and visualizing
them as color or symbolization as part of a single post rather than
using words may enhance a system's capabilities (comprehension) and
space requirements over using words alone.
[0049] In some embodiments, posts may be plotted by relevancy
(importance score order) which may be determined by:
[0050] 1) finding all posts with in a view point; and
[0051] 2) calculating their importance score.
[0052] Next, a system may plot them within the view point in their
importance score order, and lower importance posts falling
under/overlapping higher priority posts are not displayed.
[0053] In some embodiments, posts/dots shown on the map are state
data shown in minimal form. These are viewable in all zoom levels
to show the amount or level of activity in a region. These could be
heat maps or other visualization methods showing the amount of
total activity in an area.
[0054] Further, in some embodiments, a system may track one or more
map regions presented to the user. Based on pan and zoom, it
transforms the presentation of posts from an aggregated radar zoom
to individual bubble UI elements, that pop up, showing state data
as individual posts. Posts that are more important appear as higher
priority bubble views. Captured and aggregated relevancy data can
be used to calculate importance. Further, if a system determines
that a user may want to be alerted about another
area/location/event, the system may cause a display to move without
the user's input. For example, a system may determine what a user
may want to see based on a user's past history, similar users, or
by using various machine learning techniques that become better as
they are used more.
[0055] The system aggregates relevancy data to calculate a score
(importance score) that determines which post appears first,
analogous to the tallest trees getting most of the light.
[0056] This symbolization provides greater context using fewer
words than Twitter's 140-word limit. Color provides "tagged"
information. Animated unfurling of posts may show more data based
on screen space. In some embodiments animated bubbles may pop in
and out based on screen space, display information, and/or whether
an event ended. This combines to enable a system to scale a massive
amount of content data on screen at once without becoming
overloaded even in a small space such as Manhattan, N.Y.
[0057] As can now be seen, what might at first might seem like
arbitrary design display, is in fact, carefully developed
functionality to fix the hard problem of displaying relevant data
from a large set. This functionality allows for a relevant scalable
social network on a map.
[0058] Without the popping in and out from the minimal dot form,
using old style map pins, for example with respect to the amount of
content in an area such as Manhattan, would quickly overflow a map
causing it to become unreadable. See, for example, FIG. 3B.
[0059] Without the ability to tag state data and symbolization
using color, users might only be able to use text to convey their
feelings. Twitter's 140-character tweets wouldn't work on a map.
Further, older aggregation techniques may lose the context of post
at higher zoom levels.
[0060] All these functionalities in concert (e.g., the bubbles,
which are able to appear and disappear based on location, the
ability to attach supplemental emotional data using colors, the
ability to visualize context using symbolization (emojis)) allow
for advantageous transformations of a post, which in another
context may simply show up on page 2 of a messaging board.
[0061] In one or more embodiments, post data associated with a post
may be displayed on at least one client device. Such post data (as
discussed above) may include, but is not limited to: a time and/or
date, text, images, videos, a shape connoting location information,
information about an area of a map, related posts, a symbol
associated with a post, an emoji, an emoji bubble, a color, a color
associated with an emotion. In one or more embodiments, a post
includes post data, which may be displayed on a client device based
at least in part on the screen attributes. For example, a
particular amount of posts may be shown on the screen of a client
device based on the size of the screen (e.g., the display of the
client device).
[0062] FIG. 2 illustrates system 200, which is similar to system
100 but further includes a channel filtering module 107. Channels
are discussed above, and may be used to reduce an amount of posts
shown on a display (and may also be referred to as a filter). In
one or more embodiments, a channel may include a set of posts
(e.g., a channel may filter posts, which may be shown on the
display of a client device). Such a set of posts may be related
based on attributes of the channel/set of posts (also referred to
herein as post attributes), including, but not limited to: a
keyword, a tag linked to/associated with the channel/set of posts,
a hashtag, a region, a city, a proximity, a common location, an
event, a location, a type of location (e.g., a bar, a club, a deli,
a sushi restaurant, a stadium, a park), a type of food, a set of
social network connections (e.g., selecting a channel may cause
posts from a particular set of network users to be displayed on a
client device), posts comprising a certain weight (e.g., an amount
of upvotes, an amount of downvotes, an aggregate amount of upvotes
and downvotes, an amount of comments, an amount of upvotes of
comments of a post, a user's preferences, a time associated with
comments, and/or a time associated with the post(s). In one
embodiment, a post may be based on a channel (e.g., a user may make
a post to a certain channel), and the channel may include a set of
posts.
[0063] FIG. 3A illustrates an example client device 300, according
to various embodiments. Client device 300 includes a display 305
including a map, and a plurality of symbols 302, 304, 306, and 308
representing one or more posts, which may be located on the
map.
[0064] In one or more embodiments, symbol 302 includes a shape
including an emoji. The shape included in symbol 302 may include a
color which may be representative of an emotion which a user may
enter on client device 300. For example, client device 300 may
receive input causing it to create a post, and the input may
include post data such as a location, symbol, and/or an emotion,
all of which may be determined by system 100 and/or entered by a
user. In one or more embodiments, a color may be associated with
post 302 (e.g., the shape may be colored), and the color may be
based on an emotion entered by a user on client device 300.
[0065] In one or more embodiments a symbol 304 and 306 may be shown
which indicates an emotion. For example, a symbol 304 and 306 may
be shown on client device 300 and include an emoji, which may show
an indifferent face (e.g., symbol 306) or an unhappy face (e.g.,
symbol 304).
[0066] In one or more embodiments, client device 300 may show on
its display 305 an aggregation of posts (e.g., reviews) such as
symbol 308. For example, instead of showing a plurality of posts
which do not overlap, symbol 308 may indicate the plurality of
posts. In one or more embodiments, if a user selects symbol 308 a
plurality of at least a portion of reviews may be shown which may
be posted by other users of a social network. After a user selects
symbol 308, multiple posts may be provided to a user, which may
each include at least a portion of a review. In one or more
embodiments, a user may view a complete review--which may include
images, text, videos, audio, etc.--in response to selecting a
review shown after the user has selected the aggregation of posts
symbol 308.
[0067] In one or more embodiments, text may be shown on display
305. For example, text may be shown indicating an amount of zoom,
an amount of votes a post has received, etc. In some embodiments,
text may be included in a post and displayed on client device 300.
For example, a user may select symbol 306 and text may be shown
associated with a post represented by symbol 306. The text may
indicate why symbol 306 includes an indifferent emoji. In one or
more embodiments, text included in a post may be used to create
symbol 306. For instance, text discussing how bad a location is may
cause a symbol (e.g., symbol 304) to be associated with a post,
wherein the symbol denotes an unhappy emotion (such as an emoji
with an unhappy face).
[0068] FIG. 3B illustrates an example client device 300, according
to various embodiments. As can be seen on example client device
300, and as described throughout the instant disclosure, in some
embodiments a plurality of reviews may be shown on a display so
much show that the display is of no use. For example, the display
shown in FIG. 3B includes so many symbols representing posts that a
user cannot sort through them all. As such, systems and methods
described herein may cause a display to provide posts in a more
digestible manner. For example, posts may be aggregated such that a
single symbol may represent a plurality of posts, and thus the
posts may not clutter screen real estate. An addition, or as
another method, posts may be filtered at least by attributes such
that only a subset of posts are shown (e.g., posts may be filtered
by a type of restaurant, music playing at a venue, etc.).
[0069] In various embodiments, a system can be configured to
transform less important content into expanded bubbles at lower
zoom levels. Less important content may be displayed/seen less
frequently during the aggregation display and may pop up less
frequently.
[0070] Digestible content can be created in all or most of the
viewport options (e.g., view modes and/or configurations). In one
or more embodiments, the utilized display is configured to "flex"
or transform in display, allowing users to view a summary of the
content in a specific area, while also having the ability to see
the most relevant individual posts without having to zoom in. The
overall effect of the system is to provide an overview of the most
important human activity in a country, region, city, or other
level.
[0071] In various embodiments, as the number of users of the social
network grow, the use of static pins may become exponentially less
effective. As more users begin using the system, the ability to
discern relevant content becomes more difficult. The location-based
content platform displays content based on relevancy in relation to
the user's viewpoint. As the user's location and relevancy of data
change, the system is configured to hide and show Bubbles/posts
dynamically in order to filter out content determined to be less
relevant to the user.
[0072] Our system may provide for a non-obvious solution to this
problem by mimicking the behavior of a bubble as seen in nature.
The most important defining feature of a displayed bubble is the
ability to pop in and out of existence (in other words, in and out
of being displayed). Our system is able to use the bubble modality
to show (pop in) and hide (pop out) posted social content, based on
information gathered from a user's view port. Just as a bubble
changes size and shape, these bubbles (e.g., posts) also have the
ability to transform and change visual mode of displaying similar
variations of the same content in multiple different ways.
[0073] FIG. 3C illustrates an example client device 300, according
to various embodiments. Client device 300 includes symbols 320,
322, and 324. In one or more embodiments, symbols 320, 322, and 324
may be symbols that are an aggregate of two or more posts. In
addition, some posts may be associated with text.
[0074] In one or more embodiments, text may be altered. For
example, text may be altered by appearing or disappearing on
display 305 based on a variety of factors. Text may be displayed on
a tab, wherein the tab is associated with a symbol (e.g., a tab may
be emerging from a symbol (also referred to as a graphical
symbol)). Altering text may include displaying additional text, or
less text. In one or more embodiments, text may be altered based on
an input received by a client device such as where a tab is
selected. For example, text shown in FIG. 3C may correspond with
symbol 320, and may show more or less text, at least a portion of
which says, "GREAT BLUES MUSIC!"
[0075] Moreover, text may include an indication of a value
associated with an attribute. In one or more embodiments, various
symbols or other representations of posts may be shown based on
values (e.g., rankings) associated with particular attributes. For
example, a user may filter posts/aggregated posts (which may be
used interchangeably herein with creating and/or viewing a
channel). In one or more examples, as shown in example FIG. 3C,
posts may be filtered by nightlife. Various attributes, such as
drink specials, salsa dancing, and blues music may be attributes
that are filtered. For example, here, Broadway shows may be
filtered out (and may have been shown on the cluttered map in FIG.
3B. Posts, symbols, etc. may be shown over others based on
rankings/values associated with the attributes. For example, many
dancing symbols 322 may be shown, and text corresponding to the
dancing symbols may show that the average salsa dancer at one or
more locations has a skill level of 8. Thus, in some embodiments,
this set of posts/aggregated symbol may be shown rather than one in
another part of town. Similarly, an attribute such as drink
specials may be associated with an ambivalent face as shown by
symbol 324 and its corresponding text. In some embodiments, a
plurality of attributes corresponding with one or more locations
may correspond to a plurality of rankings, all of which may be used
to determine how many, a type of, and/or where a symbol/post may be
shown on a map, as described herein.
[0076] In one or more embodiments, instead of rankings
corresponding with attributes corresponding to a post, or in
combination with rankings corresponding to attributes associated
with a post, in one or more embodiments a post itself may be based
on a relevance number. A relevance number may be based on various
attributes including, but not limited to: a time that a post was
recorded, a number of votes received by a post, a number of
positive/up votes received by a post, a number of negative/down
votes received by a post, an aggregation of a number of positive/up
and negative/down votes received by a post, a number of comments
received by a post (e.g., associated with a post), a number of
positive/up votes received by comments associated with a post, a
time of at least one comment, and/or a comment relevance (e.g.,
whether the comment has something to do with the post, whether the
comment was posted by user's connection within a social
network).
[0077] FIG. 3D illustrates an example client device 300, according
to various embodiments. As with 3C, attributes of symbols 332, 334,
and 336 may be shown based on rankings associated with their
attributes. For example, symbol 336 may be shown based on an
attribute the quality of waves associated with beach/symbol 336. In
one or more embodiments, information corresponding with an
attribute of a post or symbol may be received from a system from a
canonical (e.g., third-party source). For example, information from
a beach information website may provide a system with the quality
of waves. Similarly, in some embodiments, information provided by a
website such as Yelp!.TM. may be used to determine a value of an
attribute corresponding to a location/post. As another example, an
RSS feed (e.g., from a twitter account) may be used to rank
attributes, create posts, and/or determine which posts/symbols will
be displayed on a client device. In some embodiments, a post/symbol
such as 332 may not be shown because its value associated with
waves is only 3. However, it may be shown--despite its wave ranking
of 3--based on rankings provided by one or more users. For example,
a combination of the rankings of attributes of a post (e.g., the
quality of waves, wherein waves is an attribute of a location) may
be combined with rankings of a post itself (e.g., a beach in Santa
Cruz where people are surfing).
[0078] In some embodiments, a cumulative ranking of a post/group of
posts may be based on rankings of multiple attributes. For example,
a post/symbol 334 of a beach in Monterey may indicate that the
quality of waves is a 6, and that the beach has bathrooms and
lifeguards such that children may go into the water there. In one
or more embodiments, the cleanliness of the bathrooms may be ranked
and/or the quality of the waves--which may all be included in the
overall ranking of the location (e.g., whether it may be shown on a
particular map created by one or more users).
[0079] As described throughout this disclosure, a beach in Santa
Cruz may be a location about which a post may be made. Many posts
may be aggregated into a single post such that a map is not
cluttered. A post and/or aggregated post (which may be represented
by a symbol) may have attributes associated with it/corresponding
to it (e.g., waves). In one or more or more embodiments, the
attributes may have their own rankings, which may affect which or
whether a post/symbol is shown on a map on a client device. An
example of an attribute with its own ranking would be an attribute
such as waves, which are ranked by a quality (e.g., surfability,
size, etc.).
[0080] In one or more embodiments, the system can be configured to
determine relevancy of a posting user based on one or more signals
including, but not limited to: whether a user is following another
user (e.g., whether connected, or simply being updated when a
person posts (e.g., unilateral following)); whether a user is
subscribed to a map channel which is also subscribed to by a
posting user; and/or whether the viewing user share interest with
the posting user; whether the viewing user shares demographic
traits with the posting user.
[0081] In one or more embodiments, according to the derived
importance and/or relevancy scores, the system can be configured to
do one or more of the following including, but not limited to:
showing the content more prominently on the map; expand or display
the content at higher zoom levels; expand or display the content
with more frequency either individually or in aggregate; and/or
expand or Display more content of that type.
[0082] Relevancy scores/cues may be a weighted aggregate
comprising, without limitation: Comment Score, Vote Score, and/or
Time Score. A Comment Score may be a number determined by the
number of comments that a post has and how recent each comment was
posted. Older comments may have a lower score, more recent comments
may have a higher score. A Vote Score may be a number determined by
the number of total votes and up votes that the post has received,
weighted by how recent those votes took place. In some embodiments,
a Time Score may be a number weighted by how old the post is, older
posts have a lower score. By using the aggregated Relevancy
score/values, it may be possible to surface the most relevant and
popular content.
[0083] Further, in some embodiments some activities or locations
that a user is interested in may be weighted differently than
others. For example, if a user likes Mexican food they may weight
Mexican food 3 times higher than Korean BBQ. As such, if a
particular Mexican food restaurant has a rating/score of 3, and a
Korean BBQ restaurant has a rating/score of 7, then the Mexican
food restaurant would have a total weighting of 9 (e.g., 3.times.3)
making it more relevant/important to the user who likes Mexican
food.
[0084] In some embodiments, an ephemerality system (e.g., a system
that may add or remove posts based at least in part on a period of
time) may provide user control over post content ephemerality on a
map-based social network. This has multiple advantages such as
providing a more accurate representation of "what's going on now",
and giving a real time feel to the map. Further, disappearing posts
may add space so map content doesn't fill the screen, thereby
allowing the system to scale in user numbers and post without
overflowing their screen.
[0085] In one embodiment, users are given the ability to select how
long posts--or certain types of posts (e.g., based on a
channel)--remain on a map. A duration of a post can range from less
than seconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years,
or all the way to infinite duration.
[0086] In one embodiment, a history scrubber allows users to rewind
back into time and see the map as it existed some place in the
past. This gives the benefits of "real time" posting (what's
happening now) while providing the ability to see historical
information (what was happening then). This way, a real-time
overview of human events is provided while not overflowing the map
with old social postings. This can be configured to work
analogously to moving forward and back on a YouTube video, entering
date information, using incremental time controls, having versions
of maps, and so on.
[0087] In some embodiments, a user may see what happened on a
previous weekend, such as where their friends went and/or what
types of posts happened at different places. Such functionality may
be combined with a third-party source such that a user can have
multiple sources of information to make a more informed decision
regarding what play they would like to see, where they would like
to go, what they would like to eat, who they would like to spend
their time with, etc.
[0088] It is contemplated that in some embodiments a user may tag
other users, such that the user knows to stay away from a certain
location, or go to a certain location. In some embodiments a user
may also erase posts they made or not allow other users to see
where they were or what they did at a previous point in time.
[0089] FIG. 3E shows an example of multiple maps combined into one.
For example, a map shown on device 340 may be a first user's map
which may be filtered by locations above a particular point. A map
shown on device 350 may be filtered to show locations below a
particular point. In one or more embodiments described herein, a
user (e.g., a user of client device 360) may select multiple
filtered maps (e.g., the maps shown on devices 340 and 350, which
may have been created by strangers and/or connections) and combine
those maps to be shown on their own screen. In one or more
embodiments, a discussion about channels included herein may be
applied to such an embodiment, since in some embodiments channels
and filters may be used interchangeably to described substantially
the same functionality.
[0090] In some embodiments, a map may include every post and/or
symbols representing every post made (e.g., to a social network).
Users may configure their maps however they like. As discussed
herein, a user may select a shape and size of a map shown on their
mobile device, as well as the types posts shown by using
filters/channels. In some embodiments, such as those shown in FIG.
3E, a user may cause symbols/posts from another user's system to be
shown on their device (e.g., map). Many maps from many users may be
shown on a user's device in a similar fashion (e.g., the
information shown on devices 340 and 350 may be shown on device
360). In some embodiments, a user may import all types of
information onto their system. For example, a user may import one,
two, three, or ten filtered maps (e.g., maps including posts
wherein the posts are shown based on a location, attribute,
ranking, etc.) onto their own device (and these filtered maps may
be shown on their device). In some embodiments, a user may filter
the imported filtered posts/maps/symbols such that their screen is
not cluttered and/or they see the types of posts/symbols that they
would like to see. As with any post/symbol/attribute, they may be
ranked and/or text may be included and/or altered (e.g., to show
more or less text as in FIG. 3C) based on preferences of a user. In
one or more embodiments, a combination of maps may be referred to
as an atlas.
[0091] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary depiction of systems
described herein, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the
invention. FIG. 4 shows a review 402. Review 402 includes an image
404 and text 408. The review 402 may appear in response to device
input such as the pressing of an emoji, in response to a request
for a review, in response to typing in the name of a location, etc.
In some embodiments users may view many reviews by swiping a screen
in a particular direction, searching for a connection's reviews,
searching for reviews within the previous 20 minutes, etc.
[0092] FIG. 5 shows posts 502 displayed in their minimal form, even
in this form the "emotional" tags are still shown giving a user a
high-level overview of the nature of posted information. However,
as a user zooms in closer to a post they may various posts may
become more descriptive, rather than being a simple dot on a map.
If a user still does not know what they would like to do and/or
see, they may post questions for other users to answer.
[0093] For example, FIG. 6 shows that a user has posted a question
602 and nearby users are notified of questions posted to the map.
In this example, the color is shown as grey denoting a "question"
post.
[0094] In one or more embodiments, the social mapping module
includes functionality to receive, from a client device, a request
for one or more social media posts. For example, the social mapping
module 106 may receive a request from the client device 300. The
request may include screen attribute information about the display
305 of the client device. For example, the size of the display 305,
the resolution of the display 305, areas of a map displayed on the
display 305, etc. The request may include geographic location
information, for example, identifying a geographic location of the
client device 300 or an area/specific location navigated to where
the client device 300 is not currently located. The request may
include identification of a requesting account of the social
network, for example, the account associated with a user of the
client device 300.
[0095] In one or more embodiments, the social mapping module
includes functionality to identify a set of temporally recent
social media posts based on the screen attribute information and
the geographic location information. For example, the social
mapping module may only identify social media posts that have been
posted within the most recent 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1
hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 12 hours, and 24 hours. In addition, the
social mapping module may only identify social media posts that are
within a proximity of distance from the location included in the
geographic location information, and/or within a map view specified
by the screen attribute information.
[0096] In one or more embodiments, the request further includes a
category indication. For example, the category (or channel) may be
restaurants, bars, sports venues, etc. Identifying the set of
temporally recent social media posts may be based on the category
indication. In other words, the identification may partially or
completely exclude social media posts that are not included in the
indicated category.
[0097] In one or more embodiments, the social mapping module
includes functionality to apply grouping criteria to the set of
social media posts to generate a suggested group. For example, the
social mapping module may further filter the social media posts to
determine a suggested group of social media posts that may be later
provided to the client device. Accordingly, the suggested group may
be a subset of the set of social media posts.
[0098] In one or more embodiments, applying the grouping criteria
includes ranking each social media post of the set of social media
posts according to a customized score for each social media post.
The customized score may be based on a set of preference factors
(corresponding to the requesting account) that are applied to a
general score of each social media post. For example, each social
media post may include a general score that is not specific to any
particular user or preference. The general score may be based on
various factors, like general popularity. One or more preference
factors may define preferences of a particular account. Such
preference factors may be applied to the general score of a social
media post to arrive at a customized score for the social media
post. In other words, the preference factors may be used to
determine a weighted version of the general score, resulting in the
customized score that is specific to the particular. In the absence
of a preference factor, the unweighted general score may be
used.
[0099] A preference factor may be implicit or explicit. For
example, a preference factor may be determined based on an
account's past behavior or account attributes (e.g., demographics
like age, sex, gender, etc.), or may be based on explicit
indications made by the account.
[0100] In one or more embodiments, the social mapping module
includes functionality to rank each social media post based on a
distance between a geographic location corresponding with the
social media post and the geographic location information. For
example, the social media post may correspond with a location such
as a salsa club, and the ranking may be based on the distance of
that salsa club from the location identified by the geographic
location information.
[0101] In one or more embodiments, the social mapping module
includes functionality to select, based the ranking, the subset of
the set of social media posts for inclusion in the suggested group.
The selecting may involve excluding at least one social media post
of the set of social media posts from inclusion in the suggested
group based on the ranking. In one or more embodiments, the social
mapping module includes functionality to provide, in response to
the request, the suggested group for display by the client device
300.
[0102] While the present disclosure sets forth various embodiments
using specific block diagrams, flowcharts, and examples, each block
diagram component, flowchart step, operation, and/or component
described and/or illustrated herein may be implemented,
individually and/or collectively, using a wide range of hardware,
software, or firmware (or any combination thereof) configurations.
In addition, any disclosure of components contained within other
components should be considered as examples because other
architectures can be implemented to achieve the same
functionality.
[0103] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart 700 wherein Emotive Social
Data records a person's emotional state and geographical location
along with but optionally a short message, a video, or photos, and
uploads the collection to a social graph to be viewed by other
people. We can call these emotive social records posts.
[0104] At step 710 a location is captured. A client device may
capture a location of the Person creating the post or another
location on earth or any other planet that we have geographical
data of.
[0105] At step 720, and emotion emoji/sentiment is captured. For
example, a client device may capture a person's social state.
Social state data includes but is not limited to their general
sentiment (good, bad, neutral), a short description of their
sentiment, An Emoji of their sentiment.
[0106] At step 730, ancillary data may be captured by a client
device. Ancillary data includes but is not limited to: photos,
video, text, audio, metadata about a photo, video, and/or audio,
and/or or live broadcasting of ancillary data.
[0107] At step 140, this social data may be uploaded to the social
graph, which is a collection of all social data. As more users
perform these functions, the more robust a map becomes, and the
greater the likelihood a user will find what they are looking
for--even if they didn't know it existed.
[0108] FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart 800 which can calculate the
value of a post (e.g., its importance score), in accordance with
some embodiments. At step 805, a post age is determined. This may
be used to determine whether the activities described in the post
are still occurring, or if they have ended. In some embodiments,
the older the post the less important it is. However, in other
embodiments a post that has lasted the test of time (e.g., been
shown on one or more user's devices for a threshold amount of
time), then it may have a higher value.
[0109] At step 810, ancillary emotive post data may be collected
(e.g., comments, upvotes/downvotes). Ancillary emotive post data
may help to determine importance, for example comments could be
added to a post. The more comments a post has the more important it
is. How recent comments are may also impact an importance. Other
emotive patterns such as: up voting/down voting of a post, the
number of likes or favorites the post has received.
[0110] At step 815, a score may be given to each set of ancillary
post data (comment score, vote score, etc. . . . ) weighting more
recent data points greater than older ones. A system may then apply
a score to each ancillary data point and weights it according to
the design of the social graph designers. For example, if the
designers of the social graph value positive ancillary social
emotive data then positive data will be weighted higher than
negative data.
[0111] At step 820, individual scores may be added together and
multiplied by a weighted average based on time, for example
(although they could be weighted on a channel, an emotion, a user,
a location, etc.).
[0112] At step 825, the social graph designers (e.g., one or more
users) may weigh the impact of each previously discussed social
emotive data score and combine them together to deliver an overall
importance score.
[0113] FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart 900 that may determine
relevance scores, in accordance with some embodiments. At step 905,
a system may capture the user's screen data, which may influence
what is shown on the map. For example, if a user is browsing toys
on Amazon.TM., toy stores may be more prominent on the user's
map.
[0114] At step 910, a system may receive a user's viewpoint which
may correspond to a physical region on the map. This may correspond
to an actual real-life piece of the map. E.g., a geographic region
that falls within 3 or more geographic coordinates. Although, it is
contemplated that four or more coordinates may be used to create an
area.
[0115] At step 915, a system may determine all posts within a
region. For example, a system may determine all of the posts within
the region that we previously obtained by the user. In some cases,
a user may be able to view posts that were made during a particular
period of time such as the previous weekend. These posts may be
emotive social data shared by a user into the social graph.
[0116] At step 920, a system calculates post's Importance Scores
(or value). The system then calculates, or receives the already
calculated Importance Score.
[0117] At step 925, a system may plot posts on a map based on their
values, as described throughout the instant application. The system
may order the posts based on their importance score in descending
order, with the highest importance score coming first. These are
then plotted on the map in order. At step 930, lower importance
posts may fall under/overlapping higher priority posts are not
displayed.
[0118] As each post is placed on the map there is a chance that
they may overlap. A system may prevent this by not placing a
priority post on the map on top of another priority post. If a post
would fall on top of another post of higher importance, it is
instead placed below it using a smaller less priority view, such as
a dot.
[0119] FIGS. 7-9 illustrate flowcharts of various methods for
functionality associated with the example location-based content
platform of FIG. 1. While the various steps in the flowcharts are
presented and described sequentially, one of ordinary skill will
appreciate that some or all of the steps may be executed in
different orders and some or all of the steps may be executed in
parallel. Further, in one or more embodiments of the invention, one
or more of the steps described below may be omitted, repeated,
and/or performed in a different order. Accordingly, the specific
arrangement of steps shown in FIG. 3 should not be construed as
limiting the scope of the invention.
[0120] The process parameters and sequence of steps described
and/or illustrated herein are given by way of example only. For
example, while the steps illustrated and/or described herein may be
shown or discussed in a particular order, these steps do not
necessarily need to be performed in the order illustrated or
discussed. Some of the steps may be performed simultaneously. For
example, in certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel
processing may be advantageous. The various example methods
described and/or illustrated herein may also omit one or more of
the steps described or illustrated herein or include additional
steps in addition to those disclosed.
[0121] Embodiments may be implemented on a specialized computer
system. The specialized computing system can include one or more
modified mobile devices (e.g., laptop computer, smart phone,
wearables like a smart watch, personal digital assistant, tablet
computer, or other mobile device), desktop computers, smart
televisions, smart home appliances, electronic kiosk stands, smart
automobiles, servers, blades in a server chassis, or any other type
of computing device(s) that include at least the minimum processing
power, memory, and input and output device(s) to perform one or
more embodiments.
[0122] Embodiments of the invention may be implemented on various
mobile or non-mobile computing devices, regardless of the platform
being used. In one or more embodiments of the invention, as
depicted in FIG. 10, a mobile device 1000 can be used to create,
receive, and/or transmit one or more sensory memes and/or, more
generally, to implement one or more of the user interface related
functionality disclosed herein. The mobile device 1000 may include
any portable device that provides a user interface. Examples of
mobile devices may include, but are not limited to, cellular
phones, personal digital assistants, personal communicators, tablet
computers, smartphones, or any other computing device. The mobile
device 1000 can include one or more processor(s) 1002, memory 1004
(e.g., RAM, cache memory, flash memory, etc.), a storage device
1006 (e.g., a hard disk, a solid state drive, an optical drive such
as a compact disk drive or digital video disk (DVD) drive, a flash
memory stick, etc.), a subscriber identification module (SIM) card
708, a speaker 1029, an antenna 1019, a wireless interface 1070, a
network interface 1032 and numerous other elements and
functionalities typical of mobile devices (not shown).
[0123] The mobile device 1000 may include input means and output
means, such as the keyboard, the receiver 1028, and/or the touch
sensitive display device (e.g., a touch liquid crystal display
screen) 1020, which permits a user to perform gestures (e.g., drag,
swipe, multi-touch, select, press and hold, etc.) and enter/display
keystrokes (including numeric, alphabetic, and other characters,
images, or other media types). Other input devices may include a
camera 1022, a sound recorder 1026, and/or other data recording
mechanism. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that these
input and output means may take other forms now known or later
developed. Using embodiments of the present invention, a consumer
may initiate create, edit, and/or share a video vignette using the
mobile device 1000.
[0124] The form factor and functionality of the mobile device 1000
can vary in accordance with various embodiments of the invention.
For example, as discussed above, the mobile device 1000 can include
one or more sensory devices (e.g., wearable electronics, biometric,
optical, acoustic, mechanical, electrical, etc.) or any combination
of devices configured to perform some or all of the functionality
described with regard to FIGS. 1 and 2.
[0125] The mobile device 1000 may be connected to a network (e.g.,
a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) such as the
Internet, or any other similar type of network) via the antenna
1019, wireless interface 1030, and/or network interface 1032. In
one or more embodiments of the invention, the network connection
may be facilitated by a wireless infrastructure (not shown),
including one or more transceivers cooperating to facilitate
wireless communications to wireless devices. The wireless
infrastructure may include one or more routers, switches, microwave
links, base stations, optical fibers, or other similar networking
hardware or software components. For example, the wireless
infrastructure may be a paging network, a cellular network, etc. In
one or more embodiments of the invention, the wireless
infrastructure may associate any message received from a mobile
device (1000) with a mobile device identifier of the mobile device
1000.
[0126] In one or more embodiments of the invention, the network
connection may be facilitated by a hardwired or other similar
connection using the network interface 1032. For example, the
network connection may involve a hardwire connection or short-range
wireless connectivity technology with a second mobile device, a
printing mechanism, a scanner, or a recording system.
[0127] In one or more embodiments of the invention, the
gyroscope/accelerometer 1034 and haptic actuator 1036 are examples
of sensory devices embedded within the mobile device 1000 and
usable in the creation and playback of one or more sensory
memes.
[0128] FIG. 11 illustrates a computing system 1100 which may
include one or more computer processor(s) 1102, associated memory
1104 (e.g., random access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory,
etc.), one or more storage device(s) 1106 (e.g., a hard disk, an
optical drive such as a compact disk (CD) drive or digital
versatile disk (DVD) drive, a flash memory stick, etc.), and
numerous other elements and functionalities. The computer
processor(s) 1102 may be an integrated circuit for processing
instructions. For example, the computer processor(s) may be one or
more cores or micro-cores of a processor. The computing system 1100
may also include one or more input device(s) 1110, such as a
touchscreen, keyboard, mouse, microphone, touchpad, electronic pen,
or any other type of input device. Further, the computing system
1100 may include one or more output device(s) 1112, such as a
screen (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display,
touchscreen, cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, projector, or other
display device), a printer, external storage, or any other output
device. The computing system 1100 may be connected to a network
1120 (e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN)
such as the Internet, mobile network, or any other type of network)
via a network interface connection 1118. The input and output
device(s) may be locally or remotely connected (e.g., via the
network 1120) to the computer processor(s) 1102, memory 1104, and
storage device(s) 1106.
[0129] One or more elements of the aforementioned computing system
1106 may be located at a remote location and connected to the other
elements over a network 1114. Further, embodiments of the invention
may be implemented on a distributed system having a plurality of
nodes, where each portion of the invention may be located on a
subset of nodes within the distributed system. In one embodiment of
the invention, the node corresponds to a distinct computing device.
Alternatively, the node may correspond to a computer processor with
associated physical memory. The node may alternatively correspond
to a computer processor or micro-core of a computer processor with
shared memory and/or resources.
[0130] For example, one or more of the software modules disclosed
herein may be implemented in a cloud computing environment. Cloud
computing environments may provide various services and
applications via the Internet. These cloud-based services (e.g.,
software as a service, platform as a service, infrastructure as a
service, etc.) may be accessible through a Web browser or other
remote interface.
[0131] One or more elements of the above-described systems (e.g.,
FIGS. 1 and 2) may also be implemented using software modules that
perform certain tasks. These software modules may include script,
batch, or other executable files that may be stored on a
computer-readable storage medium or in a computing system. These
software modules may configure a computing system to perform one or
more of the example embodiments disclosed herein. The computer
readable program code can be stored, temporarily or permanently, on
one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media. The
non-transitory computer readable storage media are executable by
one or more computer processors to perform the functionality of one
or more components of the above-described systems (e.g., FIGS. 1
and 2) and/or flowcharts (e.g., FIGS. 7-9). Examples of
non-transitory computer-readable media can include, but are not
limited to, compact discs (CDs), flash memory, solid state drives,
random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electrically
erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), digital versatile disks (DVDs)
or other optical storage, and any other computer-readable media
excluding transitory, propagating signals.
[0132] While the foregoing disclosure sets forth various
embodiments using specific block diagrams, flowcharts, and
examples, each block diagram component, flowchart step, operation,
and/or component described and/or illustrated herein may be
implemented, individually and/or collectively, using a wide range
of hardware, software, or firmware (or any combination thereof)
configurations. In addition, any disclosure of components contained
within other components should be considered as examples because
many other architectures can be implemented to achieve the same
functionality.
[0133] While various embodiments have been described and/or
illustrated herein in the context of fully functional computing
systems, one or more of these example embodiments may be
distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, regardless
of the particular type of computer-readable media used to actually
carry out the distribution. The embodiments disclosed herein may
also be implemented using software modules that perform certain
tasks. These software modules may include script, batch, or other
executable files that may be stored on a computer-readable storage
medium or in a computing system. These software modules may
configure a computing system to perform one or more of the example
embodiments disclosed herein. One or more of the software modules
disclosed herein may be implemented in a cloud computing
environment. Cloud computing environments may provide various
services and applications via the Internet. These cloud-based
services (e.g., software as a service, platform as a service,
infrastructure as a service, etc.) may be accessible through a Web
browser or other remote interface. Various functions described
herein may be provided through a remote desktop environment or any
other cloud-based computing environment.
[0134] The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has
been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, the
illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or
to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many
modifications and variations are possible in view of the above
teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to
best explain the principles of the invention and its practical
applications, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best
utilize the invention and various embodiments with various
modifications as may be suited to the particular use
contemplated.
[0135] Embodiments described herein may be discussed in the general
context of computer-executable instructions residing on some form
of computer-readable storage medium, such as program modules,
executed by one or more computers or other devices. By way of
example, and not limitation, computer-readable storage media may
comprise non-transitory computer-readable storage media and
communication media; non-transitory computer-readable media include
all computer-readable media except for a transitory, propagating
signal. Generally, program modules include routines, programs,
objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular
tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The
functionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed
as desired in various embodiments.
[0136] It is understood that a "set" can include one or more
elements. It is also understood that a "subset" of the set may be a
set of which all the elements are contained in the set. In other
words, the subset can include fewer elements than the set or all
the elements of the set (i.e., the subset can be the same as the
set).
[0137] While the invention has been described with respect to a
limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having
benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments
may be devised that do not depart from the scope of the invention
as disclosed herein.
* * * * *