- map-based graphical user interface indicating geospatial activity metrics

MAP-BASED GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE INDICATING GEOSPATIAL ACTIVITY METRICS

Priority Applications

This application is filed on September 8, 2017 in U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 62/556, 134; U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 62/552, 958, filed on August 31, 2017; and U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 62/491, 115, filed on April 27, 2017, are formal applications claiming priority, and the contents of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Social media applications implement computer-mediated technologies that allow the creation and sharing of content, communicating information, ideas, professional interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. Social media platforms use web-based technologies, desktop computers, and mobile technologies (eg, smartphones and tablet computers) to enable individuals, communities, and organizations to create user-generated content. -Create highly interactive platforms for sharing, co-creating, discussing, and modifying generated content or pre-made content posted online.

Mobile electronic devices upon which end user social media applications may be executed typically provide geolocation services that determine the geographic location of the mobile electronic device by an extension indicating the geographic location of the associated user. Social media content posted by users is often geo-tagged based on the geolocation of the mobile electronic device (eg, mobile phone) where the social media content is captured by their use and/or posted to the social media platform. tag). In other embodiments, social media content may be explicitly geo-tagged by a user using a computer device that does not have active geolocation services and/or is not a mobile device (such as a desktop PC).

In many social media platforms, the total number of individual social media items available for viewing by any particular user can be very large. Search mechanisms that enable users to discover social media content that may be of interest can consume significant server-side resources and often provide less than satisfactory search results.

Some aspects of the disclosure are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It is noted that the accompanying drawings illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and should not be considered as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example social media platform system for exchanging, posting, and consuming social media data (eg, messages and associated content) over a network. 2 is a block diagram illustrating additional details regarding a social media platform system, in accordance with example embodiments. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data that may be stored in a database of a social media platform system, in accordance with certain example embodiments. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a message, in accordance with some embodiments, generated by a social media client application in accordance with example embodiments. FIG. 5 illustrates in relation to which access to content (eg, short-lived messages, and associated multimedia payloads of data) or content collections (eg, short-lived message galleries or stories) may be time-limited (eg,, which may be short term), is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary access-restriction process. 6A and 6B are respective schematic diagrams of a client device providing a map-based graphical user interface for a social media application, in accordance with different respective example embodiments. 7A-7C are respective schematic diagrams of a client device providing a destination selection interface forming part of a map-based graphical user interface for a social media application, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments. 8A-8C are respective screenshots of a map-based graphical user interface, providing features relating to the display of user icons in a map forming part of the interface, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. 9A and 9B illustrate, respectively, functions of a map-based graphical user interface that provides access to a chat interface and provides access to friend content via a friend icon displayed as part of a map, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment; are screenshots of 10A-10D are a series of screenshots of search interfaces provided as part of a map-based graphical user interface, in accordance with respective example embodiments. 11A and 11B are a series of schematic screenshots illustrating a location-based search mechanism provided by a map-based graphical user interface, according to one example embodiment. Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a server system for providing a social media platform service, according to an exemplary embodiment. 13A and 13B are screenshots of an administrative interface, according to an exemplary embodiment. 14 is a flow diagram of a method for limiting social media activity from being surfaced on a social media platform by geography, according to an example embodiment. 15 is a schematic flow diagram of a method for providing variable catchment intervals for social media items by geography, according to an exemplary embodiment. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for automated estimation of social media item quality. 17A-17D are a series of alternative schemes for training a neural network to perform automated quality assessment of social media items, according to an example embodiment. 18A and 18B show a labeling scheme for training a neural network, according to an exemplary embodiment. 19 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of accessing expired short-term items on a social media platform, according to an example embodiment. 20 is a schematic diagram of a social media platform system for providing a map-based graphical user interface for a social media application, according to one example embodiment. 21 is a block diagram illustrating a representative software architecture that may be used with the various hardware architectures described herein. 22 is capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium (eg, a machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments., is a block diagram illustrating the components of the machine. The introduction provided herein is for convenience only and does not necessarily affect the scope or meaning of the terms used.

One aspect of the present disclosure provides a geographic map-based GUI for a social media platform or application to allow user access to short-term social media content via a map-based graphical user interface (GUI). This interface is also referred to herein as a “map GUI”.

As described in more detail below, short-term social media content includes social media items that are only available for viewing through a social media application for a limited period of time. For example, a short-lived social media item or message (also referred to herein as a “snap”) submitted by a user to a social media application may be sent to another via the social media application's map GUI only for a predefined period following the submission. may be available for viewing by users. In one exemplary embodiment, each short-lived item or snap has an availability lifetime of 24 hours after submission (also referred to herein as a “gallery join timer”), after which the short-lived item “disappears” and displays the map GUI. It is no longer available for viewing by other users via Such short-term social media items (also referred to herein as short-term messages) typically include photo or video content, which may be submitted with or without enhancements made by the user to the base photo or video content..

Short-term messages submitted by a number of different users may be available on a map forming part of the map GUI based at least in part on respective location information (eg, geotag information) of the short-term messages. In some embodiments, the map GUI may provide location-based access to one or more collections of short-term social media items (also known herein as galleries or “stories”). In some demonstrative embodiments, the plurality of short-lived messages submitted by different users are included in a common geo-anchored gallery or story based at least in part on respective geotagging information of the plurality of short-lived messages. This location-based gallery or story is, in some embodiments, represented on the map GUI by a respective gallery icon displayed at a corresponding map location, the gallery icon being represented on a plurality of short-lived galleries in a gallery on the user device from which the map GUI is rendered. Selectable by the user to trigger an automated sequential display of messages.

These and further aspects of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to specific exemplary embodiments. First, a platform architecture and technical background for implementation of various embodiments will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. Thereafter, specific exemplary embodiments are described with reference to FIGS. 6A-20. 21 and 22 finally illustrate aspects of software and hardware components used in implementation of the example embodiments described in some instances.

details

The description that follows includes systems, methods, devices, techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machine program products that implement example embodiments of the present disclosure. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth to provide an understanding of various embodiments of the present subject matter. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that embodiments of the disclosed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In general, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

<b><u>System architecture and operating environment</u></b>

1 is a block diagram illustrating an example social media platform system 100 for exchanging data (eg, social media items or messages and associated content) over a network. In this description, items communicated from one user to one or more other users via the social media application or platform, as well as the social media application or platform for availability or consumption by other users via the social media application or platform. Items uploaded or provided by users to the platform are referred to as “messages”. Thus, the term “messages” as used herein is not limited to communications from one user to specified recipient users, but is made available for public consumption through the relevant social media platform. included messages.

The social media platform system 100 includes a number of client devices 102, each of which hosts a number of applications, including a social media client application 104. Each social media client application 104 is communicatively coupled to other instances of the social media client application 104 and the social media application server system 108 via a network 106 (eg, the Internet).

Accordingly, each social media client application 104 may communicate and exchange data with other social media client applications 104 and with the social media application server system 108 via the network 106. Data exchanged between the social media client applications 104 and between the social media client application 104 and the social media application server system 108 is a command to invoke functions (eg, invoke functions).), as well as payload data (eg, text, audio, video, or other multimedia data).

The social media application server system 108 provides server-side functionality to certain social media client applications 104 over the network 106. Although certain functions of the social media platform system 100 are described herein as being performed by the social media client application 104 or by the social media application server system 108, the social media client application 104 or social media It will be appreciated that the location of specific functionality within the application server system 108 is a design choice. For example, you may initially deploy certain technologies and functionality within the social media application server system 108, but later transfer these technologies and functionality to the social media client application 104 when the client device 102 has sufficient processing capacity. Migrate may be technically appropriate.

The social media application server system 108 supports various services and operations provided to the social media client application 104. Such operations include sending data to, receiving data from, and processing the data generated by the social media client application 104. This data includes, for example, message content, client device information, geolocation information, media annotations and overlays, message content persistence conditions, social network information, and live events. It may include live event information. Data exchanges within the social media platform system 100 are invoked and controlled through functions available through user interfaces (UIs) of the social media client application 104.

Referring now specifically to social media application server system 108, an application programming interface (API) server 110 is coupled to application server 112 to provide a programmatic interface. Application server 112 is communicatively coupled to database server 118, which facilitates access to database 120 in which data associated with messages processed by application server 112 is stored.

Referring specifically to API server 110, it receives and transmits message data (eg, commands and message payloads) between client device 102 and application server 112. Specifically, the API server 110 provides a list of interfaces (eg, routines and protocols) that can be called or queried by the social media client application 104 to invoke the functionality of the application server 112. provides a set. API server 110 account registration; login functionality; sending messages from one social media client application 104 to another social media client application 104 via the application server 112; sending media files (eg, images or video) from the social media client application 104 to the social media server application 114 for possible access by another social media client application 104; setting up a collection of media data (eg, a story or gallery); retrieval of these collections; retrieving a list of friends of the user of the client device 102; retrieval of messages and content; addition and deletion of friends to and from the social graph; the location of friends within the social graph; opening an application event (eg, related to the social media client application 104); It exposes various functions supported by the application server 112, including the like.

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications and subsystems, including a social media server application 114, an image processing system 116, and a social networking system 122. The social media server application 114 is specifically related to the aggregation and other processing of content (eg, text and multimedia content) included in messages received from multiple instances of the social media client application 104., which implements a number of message processing techniques and functions. As will be described in greater detail, text and media content from multiple sources may be aggregated into collections of content (eg, called “stories” or “galleries”). These collections are then made available to the social media client application 104 by the social media server application 114. Processing of other processor and memory intensive data may also be performed server-side by the social media server application 114, taking into account the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes an image processing system 116 dedicated to performing various image processing operations, typically with respect to images or video received within the payload of a message at the social media server application 114. include

The social networking system 122 supports various social networking functions and services and makes these functions and services available to the social media server application 114. To this end, social networking system 122 maintains and accesses entity graph 304 (described below with reference to FIG. 3) within database 120. Examples of functions and services supported by social-networking system 122 include identification of other users of social media platform system 100 with which a particular user has a relationship or is “followed” by a particular user., and also other attributes and interests of a particular user. In some embodiments, the social-networking system 122 is positioned for viewing by a particular user via a map-based GUI displayable on the client device 102 using the corresponding social media client application 104. Includes identification of available other users.

2 is a block diagram illustrating additional details regarding the social media platform system 100, in accordance with example embodiments. Specifically, the social media platform system 100 is shown including a social media client application 104 and an application server 112, which in turn include a number of several subsystems, namely a short-lived timer system 202, collection management. system 204, and an annotation system 206.

The short-term timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing temporary access to content allowed by the social media client application 104 and the social media server application 114. To this end, the short-term timer system 202 sends messages and messages via the social media client application 104 based on the duration and display parameters associated with the message, or collection/gallery of messages (eg, a SNAPCHAT story). and a number of timers that selectively display and enable access to associated content. Additional details regarding the operation of the short-term timer system 202 are provided below.

The collection management system 204 is responsible for managing collections of media (eg, collections of text, images, video, and audio data). In some examples, a collection of content (eg, messages comprising images, video, text, and audio) may be organized into an “event gallery” or “event story”. Such a collection may be made available for a specified period of time, such as the duration of an event to which the content is related, or until the last message or snap in the gallery expires. For example, content related to a music concert may be made available as a “story” for the duration of the music concert. The collection management system 204 may also be responsible for publishing an icon that provides notification of the existence of a particular collection in the user interface of the social media client application 104. As will be described in more detail with reference to the specific example embodiments that follow, the collection management system 204 may also include at least the geo-tag data of social media items or messages uploaded to the social media platform by multiple users. Based in part, it may be responsible for compiling and managing multiple location-based social media galleries. Other types of galleries that may be provided by the collection management system 204 include a “place story” that collects short-lived messages with geotag data indicating a location within a predefined associated geographic area; and based on underlying location-based social media activity, eg, for public consumption (eg, “Live Story” or “Our Story”).) on the map GUI as described herein, based on the geo-temporal volume or anomality/unusualness of social media items submitted by users for inclusion in " Includes dynamically surfaced ad-hoc stories or spike stories. By "anomalous" is meant a metric indicating how anomalous something is.

The collection management system 204 also includes a curation interface 208 that allows a human operator (eg, a collection manager) to manage and curate a particular collection of content. For example, the curation interface 208 enables an event organizer to curate a collection of content related to a particular event (eg, delete inappropriate content or duplicate messages). Alternatively, or in addition, the collection management system 204 may automatically compile and/or curate a content collection using machine vision (or image recognition technology), geotag data, and/or content rules. In certain embodiments, a reward may be paid to the user for including user-generated content in the collection. In such cases, the curation interface 208 operates to automatically pay such users for using their content.

Annotation system 206 provides various functions that enable a user to annotate or otherwise augment, modify, or edit media content associated with a message. For example, the annotation system 206 provides functions related to the creation and publication of media overlays for messages processed by the social media platform system 100. The annotation system 206 operatively supplies a media overlay (eg, a SNAPCHAT filter) to the social media client application 104 based on the geolocation of the client device 102. In another example, the annotation system 206 operatively provides a media overlay to the social media client application 104 based on other information, such as social network information of the user of the client device 102. Media overlays can include audio and visual content and visual effects. Examples of audio and visual content include photos, text, logos, animations, and sound effects. Examples of visual effects include color overlays. Audio and visual content or visual effects may be applied to a media content item (eg, a photo) at the client device 102. For example, the media overlay includes text that may be overlaid on top of a photo taken by the client device 102. In another example, the media overlay includes a location identification overlay (eg, Venice Beach), a name of a live event, or a merchant name overlay (eg, Beach Coffee House). In another example, the annotation system 206 uses the geolocation of the client device 102 to identify a media overlay that includes the merchant's name at the geolocation of the client device 102. The media overlay may include other indications associated with the merchant. Media overlays are stored in database 120 and can be accessed through database server 118.

In one exemplary embodiment, the annotation system 206 implements a user-based publication platform that enables users to select a geolocation on a map and upload content associated with the selected geolocation. to provide. The user may also specify situations in which a particular media overlay should be provided to other users. The annotation system 206 creates a media overlay that includes the uploaded content and associates the uploaded content with the selected geolocation.

In another example embodiment, the annotation system 206 implements a merchant-based publication platform that enables merchants to select a particular media overlay associated with a geolocation via a bidding process. to provide. For example, the annotation system 206 associates a media overlay of a highest-bidding merchant with a corresponding geolocation for a predefined amount of time.

3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data 300 that may be stored in database 120 of social media application server system 108, in accordance with certain example embodiments. Although the content of database 120 is shown as including a number of tables, it will be appreciated that data may be stored in other types of data structures (eg, as an object-oriented database).

Database 120 includes message data stored in message table 314. Entity table 302 stores entity data including entity graph 304. Entities for which records are maintained in entity table 302 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects, places, events, and the like. Regardless of type, any entity for which social media application server system 108 stores data about it may be a recognized entity. Each entity is provided with a unique identifier as well as an entity type identifier (not shown).

Entity graph 304 also stores information about relationships and associations between entities. Such relationships may be, for example, only social, professional (eg, work in a general corporation or organization), interest-based, or activity-based.

Database 120 also stores annotation data in annotation table 312, including example filter types. Filters for which data is stored in annotation table 312 are videos (for which data is stored in video table 310) and/or images (for which data is stored in image table 308). are related to and apply to them. In one example, the filters are overlays that are displayed overlaid on an image or video during presentation to the recipient user. The filters may be various types of filters, including user-selected filters from a gallery of filters presented to the sending user by the social media client application 104 when the sending user is composing a message. Other types of filters include geolocation filters (also known as geo-filters), which can be presented to a transmitting user based on geographic location. For example, neighborhood or special location specific geolocation filters may be applied by the social media client application 104 based on geolocation information determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit of the client device 102. may be presented within a user interface. Another type of filter is a data filter that may be selectively presented to a sending user by the social media client application 104 based on other inputs or information collected by the client device 102 during the message generation process.. Examples of data filters include the current temperature at a particular location, the current speed at which the transmitting user is traveling, the battery life for the client device 102, or the current time.

Another annotation data that may be stored in the image table 308 is so-called “Lens” data. A “lens” can be real-time special effects and sounds that can be added to an image or video.

Another annotation data that may be stored in annotation table 312 are user-generated annotations or enhancements provided by a user to overlay the underlying photographic image or video. Such enhancements/annotations may include, for example, text annotations and picture annotations or augmentations provided by the user, for example, via a client device touchscreen.

As noted above, video table 310 stores video data associated with messages for which records are maintained in message table 314, in one embodiment. Similarly, image table 308 stores image data associated with messages for which message data is stored in entity table 314. Entity table 302 may associate various annotations from annotation table 312 with various images and videos stored in image table 308 and video table 310.

The story table 306 stores data about collections of messages and associated image, video, or audio data, compiled into a collection (eg, a SNAPCHAT story or gallery). Creation of a particular collection may be initiated by a particular user (eg, any user for whom a record is maintained in entity table 302). A user may create a “personal story” in the form of a collection of content created and transmitted/broadcast by that user. To this end, the user interface of the social media client application 104 may include user selectable icons to enable the sending user to add specific content to their personal story. In the context of this description, such messages and stories/gallery are for personal consumption, where viewing through the social media application is limited to specific users identified by the submitting user or to users who are members of the submitting user's social network. (Private consumption) is understood. This is in contrast to social media items offered for public or non-private consumption through a social media application that are not limited to a user-specific or user-specified subset of all users of the social media application. Examples of publicly viewable collections or galleries are "Live Story" or "Our Story".

As mentioned, a collection may also constitute a “Live Story,” which is a collection of content from multiple users created manually, automatically, or using a combination of manual and automated techniques. For example, a “Live Story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted content from various locations and events. Users who have location services enabled client devices and are at a common event location at a specific time have the option to contribute content to a specific live story, for example, via the user interface of the social media client application 104. This can be presented. The Live Story may be identified to the user by the social media client application 104 based on their location. The end result is a "Live Story" told from a community perspective. According to some demonstrative embodiments of the present disclosure, a submitting user may submit social media items or messages to a non-specific common live story. Such content is accessible to other users through a map-based graphical user interface, and such social media items or messages may form part of a location-based gallery or story, or a location that forms part of a map GUI. accessible through the map GUI based on their respective location indicated by the corresponding geo-tag data, by such other users using -based search mechanisms.

An additional type of content collection is a “location story” that enables a user having a client device 102 located within a particular geographic location (eg, on a college or university campus) to contribute to a particular collection. " is known. In some embodiments, contributing to a location story may require a second degree of authentication to verify that the end user belongs to a particular organization or other entity (eg, is a student on a university campus). In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the user does not specify a particular location story in which the message should be included, and generally a live story or a message uploaded to our story is based, at least in part, on the message's geo-tag data. can be automatically or semi-automatically included in the location story.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, map tile table 320 stores a number of map tiles that can be used to present a map within a map viewport of a map-based GUI. In certain exemplary embodiments, each map view consists of 9 or 16 map tiles stitched together. Multiple sets of map tiles may be maintained for different map zoom levels. In some demonstrative embodiments, a superset of map tiles is maintained on the server side and forwarded to the requesting client device 102 to build a map representation of the specific requested areas.

User location table 326 stores current or most recent user location data for multiple users of the social media application. User location data may be based on location data received from respective client devices 102 associated with respective users. This user location data, in some demonstrative embodiments, maps respective locations of a plurality of users to which the requesting user has formed part of the social network of the requesting user and/or has provided permission to view their locations by the requesting user. It is used to display in the base GUI. Each such user may be represented on a map forming part of the map GUI by a respective user icon or bitmoji.

FIG. 4 is created for communication by one instance of social media client application 104 to a further instance of social media client application 104 or social media server application 114, according to some embodiments. A schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a social media item or message 400. The content of a particular message 400 is used to populate a message table 314 stored in the database 120, accessible by the social media server application 114. Similarly, the content of message 400 is stored in memory as “in-transit” or “in-flight” data of client device 102 or application server 112. Message 400 is shown to include the following components:

Message Identifier 402 : A unique identifier that identifies the message 400.

Message Text Payload 404 : Text generated by a user through the user interface of the client device 102 and included in the message 400.

Message Image Payload 406 : Image data captured by the camera component of the client device 102 or retrieved from the memory of the client device 102 and included in the message 400.

Message Video Payload 408 : Video data captured by the camera component or retrieved from the memory component of the client device 102 and included in the message 400.

Message Audio Payload 410 : Audio data captured by the microphone or retrieved from the memory component of the client device 102 and included in the message 400.

Message Annotations 412 : Annotation data (eg, filters; stickers or other improvements).

Display duration parameter 414 : The content of the message (eg, message image payload 406, message video payload 408, and message audio payload 410) A parameter value indicating, in seconds, the amount of time, in seconds, that it will be presented to or accessible to the user via The display duration parameter 414 is also referred to herein as a “display duration timer”.

Message geolocation parameter 416: geolocation data or geo-tag data (eg, latitude and longitude coordinates) associated with the content payload of message 400. Multiple message geolocation parameter 416 values may be included in the payload, each of these parameter values being specific to the content (eg, a specific image in the message image payload 406, or a specific image in the message video payload 408). video) associated with the respective content items included in it.

Message Story Identifier 418: Identifier values that identify one or more collections of content (eg, a “story”) with which a particular content item in the message image payload 406 of the message 400 is associated. For example, multiple images in message image payload 406 may each be associated with multiple content collections using identifier values. An example of such a message story identifier 418 may include one or more thumbnail images in some embodiments.

Message Tag 420: Each message 400 may be tagged with a number of tags, each representing the subject of the content contained in the message payload. For example, if a specific image included in the message image payload 406 depicts an animal (eg, a lion), a tag value representing the related animal may be included in the message tag 420. The tag values may be generated manually based on user input, or may be generated automatically using, for example, image recognition.

Message sender identifier 422: an identifier (eg, a messaging system identifier, email address, or device identifier) that represents the user of the client device 102 from which the message 400 was generated and to which the message 400 was sent.

Message Recipient Identifier 424: An identifier representing the user of the client device 102 to which the message 400 is addressed (eg, a messaging system identifier, email address, or device identifier).

The content (eg, values) of the various components of message 400 may be pointers to locations within tables in which content data values are stored. For example, the image value in the message image payload 406 may be a pointer (or its address) to a location in the image table 308. Similarly, values in message video payload 408 may point to data stored in video table 310, values stored in message annotation 412 may point to data stored in annotation table 312, and message story Values stored in identifier 418 may point to data stored in story table 306, and values stored in message sender identifier 422 and message recipient identifier 424 may point to user records stored in entity table 302. have.

FIG. 5 illustrates in relation thereto that access to content (eg, short-term message 502, and an associated multimedia payload of data) or content collection (eg, short-term message story 504) may be time-limited. A schematic diagram illustrating an access-restriction process 500 (eg, which may be short-lived).

The short-term message 502 is shown associated with a display duration parameter 506, the value of which is displayed by the social media client application 104 to the receiving user of the short-term message 502. Determine the amount of time to be In one embodiment, where the social media client application 104 is a SNAPCHAT client application, the receiving user may be short-lived for up to 10 seconds, depending on the amount of time the sending user specifies using the display duration parameter 506. You can see message 502. In some embodiments, the system automatically attaches the default display duration parameter 506 to photo or still-image messages with a default display duration of, for example, 5 seconds. The display duration parameter 506 of video-based messages may automatically correspond to the duration of the base video, with an automatically enforced upper limit. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment where an upper limit of 10 seconds is enforced, a 7 second video message would have a display duration parameter of 7 seconds.

Display duration parameter 506 and message recipient identifier 424 are shown as inputs to message timer 512, message timer 512 indicating that short-term message 502 is identified by message recipient identifier 424. Responsible for determining the amount of time shown to a particular receiving user. In particular, the short-term message 502 will only be shown to the relevant recipient user for a period determined by the value of the display duration parameter 506. Message timer 512 is shown providing an output to a more generalized short-term timer system 202 that is responsible for the overall timing of display of content (eg, short-term message 502) to a receiving user.

Short-term messages 502 are shown in FIG. 5 for inclusion within a social media gallery in the form of short-term message stories 504 (eg, personal SNAPCHAT stories, or event stories). The short-term message story 504 has a story duration parameter 508, the value of which is the time duration for which the short-term message story 504 is made available and accessible to users of the social media platform system 100.) to determine For example, the story duration parameter 508 may be the duration of a music concert, where the short message story 504 is a collection of content related to that concert. Alternatively, a user (owning user or curator user) may specify a value for the story duration parameter 508 when performing the setup and creation of a short-lived message story 504. In some embodiments, the story duration parameter 508 is the respective story engagement parameters 510 (or lifetime) of one or more of the short-lived messages 502 forming part of a particular short-term message story 504.) is determined based, at least in part, on In one exemplary embodiment, the story duration parameter 508 corresponds to the story participation parameter 510 or lifetime of the last-posted short message among the short messages 502 in the related short message story 504.. In such a case, the short-term message story 504 may be determined when the last-posted short-term message 502 therein expires (eg, the story engagement parameter 510 of the last short-term message 502 or when the lifetime will expire). when) expires (eg, by becoming invisible through social media platforms).

As mentioned above, each short-lived message 502 in a short-lived message story 504 has an associated story engagement parameter 510 (also referred to herein as a “gallery engagement parameter” or “gallery engagement timer”), The value determines the duration of time that the short-term message 502 will be accessible within the context of the short-term message story 504. Thus, a particular short-term message 502 may “expire” and become inaccessible within the context of the short-term message story 504 before the short-term message story 504 itself expires with respect to the story duration parameter 508.. The story duration parameter 508, the story engagement parameter 510, and the message recipient identifier 424 each provide an input to the story timer 514, which first) operationally determines whether a particular short-term message 502 of a particular recipient user will be displayed and, if so, for how long. Note that the short-lived message story 504 also recognizes the identity of a particular recipient user as a result of the message recipient identifier 424.

Thus, the story timer 514 operatively controls the overall lifetime of the associated short-term message story 504 as well as the individual short-term message 502 included in the short-term message story 504 in some embodiments. In one embodiment, each and every short-term message 502 in the short-term message story 504 remains viewable and accessible for a time period specified by the story duration parameter 508. In a further embodiment, a particular short-term message 502 may expire within the context of the short-term message story 504 based on the story engagement parameter 510. The respective display duration parameter 506 will still determine, even within the context of the short-term message story 504, the duration of time that a particular short-term message 502 is displayed to the receiving user upon replay of the short-term message 502. Note that you can Thus, the display duration parameter 506 determines whether a particular short-term message 502 is displayed by the receiving user, regardless of whether the receiving user is viewing the short-term message 502 within or outside the context of the short-term message story 504. Determines the duration of time displayed to the user.

The short-lived timer system 202 may also operationally remove a particular short-lived message 502 from the short-term message story 504 based on a determination that it has exceeded the associated story engagement parameter 510. For example, when the sending user establishes a 24 hour story engagement parameter 510 from a posting, the short-term timer system 202 sends an associated short-term message 502 from the short-term message story 504 after a specified 24 hours. will remove The short-lived timer system 202 is also configured when the story engagement parameter 510 for each and every short-term message 502 in the short-term message story 504 has expired, or the short-term message story 504 itself is a story duration parameter. Acts to remove the short-term message story 504 when it has expired with respect to 508. In this disclosure, at least some short-term messages 502 are not included by the user in any particular event gallery and are not included in any location-based gallery represented by the respective gallery icon on the map GUI; Note that it may be submitted to a social media application by a user for public or public viewing via a map-based GUI. In some embodiments, these short-term messages 502 may include a map GUI as part of a collective Live Story or Our Story, as described with reference to certain example embodiments below. It also has respective story engagement parameters 510 specifying periods of time accessible through. In certain example embodiments, each short-lived message 502 submitted for public or non-private view accordingly has a default gallery engagement parameter or story engagement parameter 510 of 24 hours. Accordingly, these short-lived messages 502 are only visible through the map GUI for 24 hours after submission.

In certain use cases, the author of a particular short-lived message story 504 may specify an indefinite story duration parameter 508. In this case, the expiration of the story engagement parameter 510 for the last remaining short-term message 502 in the short-term message story 504 will determine when the short-term message story 504 itself expires. In this case, as the new story participation parameter 510, the new short-term message 502 added to the short-term message story 504 effectively equals the lifetime of the short-term message story 504 to the value of the story engagement parameter 510. extend

In response to the short-term timer system 202 determining that the short-term message story 504 has expired (eg, is no longer accessible), the short-term timer system 202 sends the social media platform system 100 (and For example, specifically in communication with the social media client application 104), an indication (eg, an icon) associated with the relevant short-term message story 504 is no longer within the user interface of the social media client application 104. do not display. Similarly, when the short-term timer system 202 determines that the story engagement parameter 510 for a particular short-term message 502 has expired, the short-term timer system 202 sends the social media client application 104 to the short-term message 502. no longer display an indication associated with it (eg, icon or text identification).

<b><u>Exemplary embodiments of map GUI functionality</u></b>

First, various aspects and features of the present disclosure will be conceptually described in connection with certain exemplary embodiments discussed and described with reference to FIGS. 6A-11B.

<i><u>Basic map GUI architecture</u></i>

6A illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a map-based graphical user interface, also referred to as a map GUI 612, displayed on a client device 102 in the exemplary form of a mobile phone. In this exemplary embodiment, the map GUI 612 is created on the display in the form of a touchscreen 606 capable of receiving haptic input. The map GUI 612 includes an interactive map 618 that represents a stylized aerial or satellite representation of a particular geographic area. A map 618 is displayed within the map viewport 621, which in this exemplary embodiment uses the entire available area of the touchscreen 606. In other example embodiments, the map viewport 621 may be a bounding panel or window within a larger display screen. Map GUI 612 further includes a plurality of user-selectable graphical user interface elements displayed at specific respective geographic locations on map 618. Each of these geo-anchored GUI elements is represented by a respective indicia or icon overlaid on the map 618 in this exemplary embodiment. The different types of icons and their respective functionality will be described in more detail below. As also briefly described, the map GUI 612 may further include one or more information overlays rendered over the base geographic map 618, in this exemplary embodiment, the social media provided by the associated social media application. and a heatmap 625 representing the geographic distribution of underlying social media activity on the media platform.

As mentioned, the map GUI 612 includes a number of different user-selectable icons or UI elements that display different geographically based content or information. In this exemplary embodiment, the map GUI 612 includes a plurality of different gallery icons, also referred to herein as “story icons”. Each story icon corresponds to a respective location-based social media gallery or collection at a location on map 618, in this exemplary embodiment, of so-called “snaps,” as discussed elsewhere herein. Corresponds to a location-based story of short-term messages in an exemplary form. Each of these stories, represented by respective story icons on map 618, is a respective set of snaps (enhanced) grouped together based at least in part on respective geo-tag data associated with the respective snaps. or non-enhanced photo or video content, respectively).

In the example embodiment of FIG. 6A, map GUI 612 displays two different types of gallery icons for two different respective types of location-based social media galleries, i. - for spike galleries/stories dynamically surfaced on map GUI 612 based on one or more metrics of underlying social media activity regarding submission of social media items/snaps to social media platform with tag data spike icons 633, and place icons 631 for place galleries/stories. Note that these different types of galleries are represented by different types of icons 631, 633. The differences between these different types of galleries and the corresponding visually distinct gallery icons 631, 633 are discussed later herein. The map GUI 612 in this exemplary embodiment provides a list of bitmojis 640 displayed on the map GUI 612 based on the current or last known geographic location of the user's respective friends associated with the client device 102. It further includes friend icons in an exemplary form.

<i><u>Message and/or story short-lived</u></i>

In this exemplary embodiment, the social media items selectively playable by selection of the corresponding story icons 631, 633 in the map GUI 612 are short-term social media items or messages. As previously described, short-lived content is social media content that is available for viewing by social media users via the map GUI 612 only for a predetermined limited period of time, also referred to herein as a respective gallery engagement parameter or timer. (eg, augmented and/or non-enhanced video clips, photos, and/or other messages). After expiration of the respective gallery participation parameter or timer for any short-term message or snap uploaded by a particular user, that short-term message or snap is sent via the map GUI 612 created on their respective client devices 102. It is no longer available for viewing by other users. Current examples of such short-lived social media content include respective snaps or messages contained in so-called “stories” in SNAPCHAT or INSTAGRAM social media applications.

Instead of, or in addition to, management of short-livedness at the per-snap level using respective gallery engagement timers, the availability of short-term messages by the map GUI 612 may in some cases, for example, It can be collectively managed at a per-story level. In such cases, each story has a respective story duration parameter 508 (eg, a corresponding story timer) upon expiration when the availability of the corresponding story for viewing via the map GUI 612 ends. (514) - see FIG. 5). In some embodiments, the story duration parameter 508 is calculated based on the story engagement parameter 510 of one of the short-lived messages included in the related story. For example, a story may in some embodiments expire when the last uploaded item in the story expires, in response in which the corresponding story icon 631, 633 is no longer displayed on the map GUI 612. does not In one exemplary embodiment, the map GUI 612 may include one or more event icons (eg, similar in appearance to the location icons 631 of FIG. 6A) corresponding to respective event stories. and the story duration parameter 508 of the event story is set such that a predetermined period of time from the start or end of the base event expires. Upon expiration of the story duration parameter 508, the corresponding gallery icon 631, 633 is removed from the map GUI 612, regardless of individual timers associated with the respective snaps included in the event story.

<i><u>story playback</u></i>

The user may select any one of the gallery icons 631 and 633 by haptic contact with the touch screen 606 at the on-screen location of the selected gallery icon 631 / 633. In response to this selection, an automated sequential playback of the corresponding set of short-lived messages or snaps in the selected story is performed by the client device 102 on the touchscreen 606. This automated sequential playback of selected stories consists of:

- the content or media payload of the first of the short-term messages for the corresponding display duration (eg a default value of 5 seconds for photo-based messages and a maximum value of 10 seconds for video-based snaps) to display on the touchscreen 606, in this exemplary embodiment temporarily replacing the map GUI 612 on the touchscreen 606 with a full screen replay of the associated snap;

- upon expiration of the display duration, displaying the content of the next snap/message during that display duration; and

- Progressing sequentially through all short-lived messages in the selected story, thus until all snaps in the story have been replayed or until the user selectively dismisses the playback sequence.

In some embodiments, not all snaps within a particular story/gallery are necessarily included in the replay sequence. For example, if there are multiple overlapping snaps (eg, snaps showing substantially the same content), some of those snaps are automatically skipped to maintain a continuous narrative and different snaps. Do not repeat some sections of the event that is normally captured by. Alternatively, or in addition, social media server application 114 may in some embodiments be automatically programmed to identify and curate overlapping or concurrent snaps based on timestamp information associated with respective snaps.

In this example embodiment, the snaps that are automatically collected together in the replayable Spike Story or Place Story are chronologically based on their respective timestamps (eg, oldest to newest or oldest posted). They are played sequentially, starting with the most recently posted) and are arranged to be played automatically. An advantage of such chronological playback is that viewing the story provides the user with sequentially arranged views of events occurring at a relevant location. However, in some cases, a human curator may choose to rearrange the snaps in chronological order, for example to improve the narrative flow of the story. In other embodiments, the snaps may be played in reverse chronological order from newest to oldest.

Accordingly, the example map GUI 612 provides a plurality of location-based gallery icons in the exemplary form of user-selectable story icons 631, 633 to trigger playback of respective collections of short-term social media items., and in this exemplary embodiment are respective short-term stories consisting of respective sets of short-term messages (also referred to herein as “snaps”). In this exemplary embodiment, each of the plurality of location-based stories represented by respective story icons 631, 633 may include media content contributed by a number of different users.

<i><u>Posting Our Story and Short-Term Messages to Our Story</u></i>

In this exemplary embodiment, respective short-term stories are compiled from short-term messages submitted by multiple users based at least in part on geo-tagging of respective snaps. Short-term messages made available for viewing via the map GUI 612 are in this example embodiment an in-application social network of the user having the client device 102 for which the map GUI 612 is created.) is not limited to content provided by other users who are members of Instead, the social media content to which the map GUI 612 allows access is provided by snaps uploaded or submitted by any user to be publicly accessible via the map GUI 612 in this example embodiment. do.

One aspect of the example map GUI 612 provides functionality for users to submit social media content for public view via the map GUI 612. Referring briefly to FIG. 7A, a destination forming part of the map GUI 612 to provide a mechanism for providing the user with a selectable option to publicly view the snap via the map GUI 612 when capturing the snap. An exemplary embodiment of a selection interface 707 is shown.

In this exemplary embodiment, while map viewport 621 is displayed (as can be seen in FIG. 6A) by operation of camera soft button 650 (FIG. 6A) that forms part of map GUI 612. Snaps may be captured via the map GUI 612. After capturing the photo or video content by operation of the camera soft button 650, the captured media content is displayed on the touch screen 606 (FIG. 7A) along with the destination selection interface 707. In this exemplary embodiment, the user may have one or both destinations identified in FIG. 7A as “My Story” and “Our Story”, represented by the respective radio buttons 714 and 721 in FIG. 7A. You can choose an option. By selecting the Our Story radio button 721 and then selecting the “Send” soft button 728, the user acknowledges that the snap is available for non-private publication via the map GUI 612. The snap may be submitted to the application server 112 via the network 106 with the indication. If the snap is not so marked by the user, for example only associated with selection of the My Story radio button 714, then, as will be described later herein, the snap is associated with the story icons 631, 633. Not available for inclusion in any of the stories, and not available for inclusion in search results of a location-based search via map GUI 612. Snaps included only in the My Story gallery are only available to the user's friends (eg, members of the uploading user's social network). The My Story gallery is a per-user location-agnostic gallery of short-lived messages available only to friend users, and thus is a non-public or private gallery.

In other exemplary embodiments described herein, a superset of short-lived messages made available to multiple users for public viewing via the map GUI 612 may alternatively be a “live story” or simply “live”. " is referred to as a gallery. For purposes of description of the exemplary embodiments herein, "Live Story" and "Our Story" should therefore be read as synonyms. In the present exemplary embodiment, compilation and/or surfacing of gallery icons 631, 633 and rendering of heat map 625 are publicly available social media content provided by snaps uploaded to our story. based exclusively on Metrics or attributes of social media activity upon which one or more aspects of map GUI 612 are based (eg, a singularity or anomaly metric indicating a geo-temporal specificity or anomaly of social media activity within respective geographic regions) The calculation of is based exclusively on snaps uploaded to our story likewise in this exemplary embodiment.

<i><u>Visual distinctions between story icons for different story types</u></i>

Returning now to the visual distinctions or differences between the different types of gallery icons 631, 633, each gallery icon 631/633 in this exemplary embodiment is one of the snaps included in its respective story. It will be noted that includes a circular graphical user interface element with a thumbnail image provided by a snap of. However, each place icon 631 also includes an associated label 635 with a textual representation of the associated place. In this exemplary embodiment, labels 635 indicate respective locations of the location stories surfaced in the geographic window currently displayed on example map 618 as Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park, and Empire State Building, respectively.

In other example embodiments, visual distinctions between different types of story icons may be provided in different ways. FIG. 6B shows another exemplary embodiment of a map GUI 612 similar to, for example, the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6A, the main difference being between place icons 631 and spike icons 633. that the visual distinction is provided, at least in part, by thumbnail images of different shapes. In the example of FIG. 6B, thumbnails of place icons 631 are rectangular, and thumbnails of spike icons 633 are circular.

The respective thumbnail images used for the spike icons 633 are automatically selected by the social media server application 114 in the example embodiments of FIGS. 6A and 6B. In this case, the thumbnail image for spike icon 633 is automatically selected based on the posting time of the respective snaps forming part of the corresponding spike story, in this case as the most recently posted snap in the relevant story. is chosen In other embodiments, automatic selection of a thumbnail image to be used in spike icon 633 may be based on selecting the earliest posted short-lived message/snap still available for viewing as part of the spike story. Thumbnail images for place icons 631 (or for icons associated with other curated stories, such as event stories) may likewise be automatically selected in some embodiments. However, in this embodiment, the thumbnail images for place icons 631 are from snaps included in the corresponding story/gallery by a human operator via a content management interface that forms part of social media server application 114. can be selected. If there is no such explicit designation of a particular snap to be used for the thumbnail image, the thumbnail selection may revert to the automatic default selection as previously described.

<i><u>Differences between different story types</u></i>

<i>place stories</i>

Referring to FIG. 6A, the differences between different types of social media galleries or stories accessible via respective story icons 631, 633 on the map GUI 612 will now be briefly discussed.

Place stories represented by respective place icons 631 are defined locations or social media galleries for places, typically consistently relatively active places (eg, Times Square, Universal Studios). etc) is. Note that in this exemplary embodiment, not all defined places are surfaced by default in the map GUI 612 by their respective place icons 631. Instead, geo-anchored place stories are based on the amount of activity captured within the defined geographic area associated with the relevant place as indicated by the associated geo-tag data (eg, the raw number of uploaded snaps). surfaced. This ensures that places that regularly or always attract relatively large volumes of snaps are so identified on map 618.

The defined places where place icons 631 can be surfaced in the map GUI 612 are, in this exemplary embodiment, a server-side gallery management system provided by the server-side social media platform system 1200 (FIG. 12). or manually created by one or more human operators using a content management system (CMS) 1224. In this exemplary embodiment, each defined location has:

(a) an associated operator-defined polygon marking its geographic boundaries that designates a particular geographic area for a place story;

(b) a thumbnail position or icon position, typically lying within an associated polygon, designating an on-map position at which a place icon 631 for a gallery or story associated with that place is displayed on map 618; and

(c) The name by which the place is identified. In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6A, this is the name displayed on the associated label 635 of the place icon 631.

In other embodiments, these places and associated place stories are automatically identified by the historical snap volume. In some such embodiments, defined places and their associated stories/galleries are automatically created and curated by server-side procedures.

In some cases, each place story includes all of the snaps with geotag information indicating a geographic location that lies within an associated polygon. In such cases, selection of a particular place icon 631 (eg, by clicking in a desktop application or by tapping the touchscreen 606 in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6A) is within the corresponding polygon. Play all snaps from In this exemplary embodiment, the CMS 1224 can be used by operators or administrators to curate a collection of snaps associated with any operator-selected defined place (eg, a specific geographic area defined by a corresponding polygon). provide functionality to Thus, an operator or one or more automated procedures may, for example, delete individual snaps from a place story, or may select individual snaps for inclusion in a place story.

When the snaps are played in response to selection of the venue icon 631, the name of the venue appears on the screen along with the replayed content or payload of the respective snaps. As mentioned, in this exemplary embodiment, the snap represented by the corresponding thumbnail in the relevant place icon 631 is played first, followed by the rest in chronological order.

<i>Spike Stories</i>

Unlabeled circular spike icons 633 are automatically surfaced for geographic areas with unusually high activity, and respective associated spike stories or ad hoc galleries include unexpired snaps within the associated geographic area. In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6A, all ad hoc galleries associated with spike icons 633 are unmoderated, so that selecting spike icon 633 results in all snaps within the geographic area associated with spike icon 633. Automated sequential replays are triggered. In certain example embodiments, the geographic area associated with the spike icon 633 includes all geographic points located within a predefined radius of the location on the map of the selected spike icon 633.

Thus, clicking or tapping the spike icon 633 plays all the snaps in that cluster, first showing the snap in the thumbnail and then the rest of the snaps in chronological order. Also note that the snaps clustered under the common spike icon 633 are uploaded to Our Story by a number of different respective social media users in this example and are not curated by moderators. In other embodiments, stories collected under these spike thumbnails may be curated.

Automated selection of spike icons 633 (and thus associated social media galleries, collections, or stories) for surfacing in the map GUI 612 may in this exemplary embodiment be dependent on the respective anomaly or based at least in part on the calculation of the singularity metric values. Thus, if the level of specificity or anomaly of a user's activity in a particular geo-temporal space is higher, in such cases it is more likely that a particular spike story will be surfaced on the map GUI 612 by the display of the corresponding spike icon 633. It will increase. As mentioned, the anomaly metric provides an indication of the level of geo-temporal specificity or anomaly of social media activity. Calculating the anomaly metric may in some embodiments include calculating a level or percentage of a difference between historical activity levels in a given area and activity levels in a current time window. It will be appreciated that heat map coloration and content surfacing increase with increasing levels of positive anomaly (ie, indicative of unusually high social media activity). It is also noted that, in some embodiments, the social media activity metric in heat map generation and/or content surfacing is based on a combination of factors including the anomaly metric. In certain example embodiments, the social media activity metric is provided by a combination of a raw activity metric and an anomaly metric.

Alternatively, or in addition, human curators, via CMS 1224, may also mark certain spike stories or clusters as "interesting", thereby increasing the specificity or anomaly score of each spike. have.

Note that in the exemplary embodiment described with reference to FIG. 6A, different social media activity attributes or metrics are used for surfaceization of place icons 631 and spike icons 633, respectively. As discussed, the spike icons 633 are surfaced based on the anomalous metric values in this exemplary embodiment, and the place icons 631 are surfaced based on the raw snap volume. In other embodiments, the surfacing of place icons 631 may also be based, at least in part, on associated anomaly values. It is noted that, in some embodiments, various aspects of social media surfacing as described herein (including heat map computation and generation, story surfacing, etc.) are based on properties other than anomalies. For example, heat map 625 and story surfacing are based on raw activity levels in one embodiment. Accordingly, a discussion herein of aspects of the present disclosure relating to content surfacing and information overlays (eg, heatmap 625) based on an anomaly metric is, in other embodiments, a number of raw snaps within a given time period, snap It should be read as being performed based on different social media activity values such as frequency, snap density, or the like.

<i>Other types of stories or short-lived social media galleries</i>

Alternatively, or in addition, other embodiments may provide different social media gallery types than the place stories and spike stories described with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B. Each of these different types of galleries may be represented on map 618 by a visually distinct type of icon or other user interface element.

One exemplary embodiment provides event galleries about specific events occurring at a specific location. Such events may include, for example, concerts, festivals, sporting events, and the like. These event galleries are created and curated server-side by human operators using CMS 1224 in one embodiment.

Some embodiments may surface on map 618 story icons or thumbnails in connection with non-public snaps, eg, snaps or stories that are access-restricted based at least in part on social network information. provide that For example, individual stories uploaded by friend users may be represented on map 618 by a respective icon or thumbnail in some embodiments. For example, friend users' My Story may be accessible directly via map 618 in some embodiments. These story icons are indicated by a respective friend icon or bitmoji 640 located on map 618 corresponding to the location where the corresponding story was created in some embodiments. In other embodiments, each such user story icon may be displayed on the map GUI 612 by a circular thumbnail similar to the example story icons 631, 633 previously described.

<i><u>Snap submission for user-selected location-based stories</u></i>

Another feature of the present disclosure is that any and all that may occur in locations where a user may post, eg, geographically proximate to the user's current location, as indicated by the associated client device 102. Allows users to submit designated publicly viewable snaps for inclusion in live stories or short-lived galleries. In this way, the user can specify snaps for inclusion in place stories, event stories, or other location-based short-lived social media galleries as discussed above.

7B and 7C show an exemplary embodiment of a destination selection interface 707 that provides an alternative mechanism for such destination selection to the exemplary embodiment previously described with reference to FIG. 7A. The destination selection interface 707 of FIG. 7B is displayed on the client device 102 in response to a user initiating a snap submission flow, eg, by capturing a snap.

The destination selection interface 707 of FIG. 7B shows that two different user-selectable user interface elements in the form of respective radio buttons 714 and 721 are user-specific My Story (radio button 714) or publicly. It is similar to the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 7A in that it is presented for posting a snap to a viewable Our Story (radio button 721). The distinction between the destination selection interface 707 of FIGS. 7A and 7B is that the Our Story cell of FIG. 7B is automatically expanded upon selection of radio button 721, based on the geo-tag or device location of the associated snap. that the snap shows subtitles of local venue stories and/or event stories that can be submitted.

Fig. 7c shows additional options presented as a result of selecting Our Story radio button 721, opening a list showing the respective local stories for which the snap is eligible. In this exemplary embodiment, all suboptions are selected by default via their respective radio buttons 750. In other embodiments, separate selection of individual suboptions may be required. When the user selects all of the options and chooses to submit a snap, that snap is automatically associated with each of the selected sub-options and, as described above, any curated location-based venue or event gallery/story Apart from that, you can view them geographically as part of Our Story.

The user can deselect any specific sub-options by clicking or tapping the corresponding default-selected radio button 750 as shown in FIG. 7C, in which the lowest sub-option among the sub-options is shown in FIG. 7C. This has been deselected. When all suboptions are deselected, the snap is not posted to any curated location-based stories, but only to Our Story for public viewing via the map GUI 612, as described elsewhere herein. is posted

<i><u>Heat Map Considerations</u></i>

As shown in FIG. 6A, the social media application map GUI 612 in this exemplary embodiment includes a heat map layer overlaid on the geographic map 618, thus allowing users within the social media application to A heat map 625 is provided indicating the geographic distribution of one or more attributes of the activity. As previously discussed, heat map 625 indicates user activity levels in connection with posting publicly viewable geotagged content (eg, Live Stories/Our Stories). Alternatively, or in addition, the heat map 625 may in some embodiments be based on snaps viewable by a particular user having the client device 102 on which the map GUI 612 is displayed, in which case the heat map 612 is displayed. Figure 625 may vary from person to person depending on who gives the viewer permission to view their snaps.

In this exemplary embodiment, map 618 is color-coded such that warmer colors correspond to higher levels of singularity as indicated by higher anomaly metric values. Accordingly, in the map 618 shown in FIG. 6A, the red regions of the heat map 625 indicate those geographic regions that have snap clusters corresponding to the highest anomaly metric values. Also, in other embodiments different metrics or properties for generation of heat map 625 may be used, eg, based on snap density (eg, raw snap volume per unit area of map 618). can do.

In some embodiments, map GUI 612 displays information regarding heat map 625 differently at different magnification levels. For example, the calculation of the anomaly metrics and the resulting rendering of the heat map 625 based thereon are performed separately for each of the plurality of zoom levels in some embodiments. Also, different sets of spike icons 633 may surface at different magnification levels. In one exemplary embodiment, heat map 625 may be displayed at a first zoom level without individual spike icons 633 surfaced in map GUI 612, and multiple gallery or story icons 631, 633 is automatically surfaced in response to user-controlled zooming in on a particular portion of map 618 shown at a first zoom level.

<i><u>Anomaly Metric Calculation</u></i>

Some features of the map GUI 612 in this exemplary embodiment compute an anomaly metric in relation to the social media content that quantifies the geospatial anomaly or specificity of the social media content, and respective values for the anomaly metric. It provides for surfacening social media content in the map GUI 612 based on In this exemplary embodiment, respective collections of snaps associated with different geographic locations are ranked based, at least in part, on corresponding anomaly metric values, and a predetermined number of collections, along with respective spike icons 633 They are automatically selected based on their ranks of anomalies to surface on the map GUI 612. Alternatively, or in addition, all spike stories that have a positive anomalous metric value (ie, anomalously high, not low, reflecting activity) higher than a predefined threshold are displayed by display of a corresponding spike icon 633. can be automatically surfaced. As described elsewhere herein, the calculation and display of heat map information is based, in some embodiments, at least in part on an anomaly metric calculation.

In some embodiments, anomalous metrics may be calculated for individual social media items. However, in this exemplary embodiment, the anomaly metric is calculated for collective user behavior. In particular, on the basis of a comparison between the geo-temporal distribution of the plurality of snaps and historical geo-temporal social media behavior within or around the relevant geographic location, the number of snaps (which in this example are their respective geotagged social media submissions) is Anomalous metrics are calculated for

Note that the calculation of the anomalous metrics is time sensitive in this exemplary embodiment. Thus, snaps of the same volume at a particular location can be identified as being anomalous at one time of the day and not at another time of the day. For example, a certain level of social media activity at the Empire State Building (here, posting snaps to Our Story) would be flagged as above-threshold anomalous at 4 AM. However, it will not be identified as anomalous during the daytime.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide, for each of a plurality of social media postings, determining one or more geo-temporal attributes of a social media activity by a process comprising representing the posting as having a distribution in time and/or space. provide that In some embodiments, representing respective postings as having a geo-temporal distribution involves treating respective social media items as a probability cloud, eg, having a Gaussian distribution. include that Alternatively, or in addition, the method generates or extrapolates a historical model or historical representation of social media activity based at least in part on a resampling procedure performed on a plurality of historical geo-tagged social media items. (extrapolating) may include a step. In one exemplary embodiment, the resampling procedure includes a bootstrapping operation.

In some embodiments, representing social media postings as having respective distributions in time and/or space is an operation for representing a geo-temporal reference profile or model for historical social media activity for a particular geographic area. performed as part of Alternatively, or in addition, presenting social media postings as having respective distributions in time and/or space is a process for representing recent or near-live social media activity within a particular geographic area. It can be done as part of In such cases, the geo-temporal reference profile and the representation of recent or near-live social media activity are, for example, based on differences between the geo-temporal reference profile and the corresponding representation of the recent or near-live social media activity. can be used in combination to identify one or more areas of interest or anomalous social media activity within a geographic area by calculating the geographic distribution of the quantified anomalous metrics.

<i><u>Dynamic fluctuations in icon size</u></i>

Referring briefly to FIG. 6B, the map GUI 612 illustrated therein provides an automated display of one or more visual attributes of user interface elements associated with respective social media content based at least in part on a quantified attribute of the underlying social media activity. It will be appreciated that it provides exemplary embodiments of aspects of the present disclosure that provide variations. In particular, the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6B provides a dynamic variation of the on-screen size of respective spike icons 633 based on respective anomalous metric values for corresponding clusters or spike galleries. Thus, the on-screen size of the respective spike icons 633 indicates the level of specificity or anomaly of the underlying social media activity. In other words, the size of the spike icon 633 indicates how unusual it is for there to be an associated amount of activity at that spot, and a larger spike icon 633 indicates a greater level of specificity.

Alternatively, or in addition, the visual attribute (eg, its on-screen size) of the place icons 631 may likewise vary based on the corresponding anomaly value. However, in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6B, the on-screen size of the place icons 631 is variable based on the snap volume, and the greater number of snaps included in any place story is associated with the place icon 631. corresponding to the larger on-screen size of Thus, from the exemplary screenshot shown in FIG. 6B, it is intuitively understandable that the Universal Studios story has a greater number of snaps than the Venice Boardwalk story.

<i><u>Location sharing and user icons</u></i>

<i>user location display</i>

As previously mentioned, the map GUI 612 includes a graphical representation of the user's associated locations associated with the client device 102 and/or other users, each user (associated with a viewing user). Represented by a respective user icon or friend icon (for users who are members of the in-application social graph), in the illustrated embodiments in the form of respective bitmojis 640. In this exemplary embodiment, users of the social media platform will not share their location unless they have interacted with the map GUI 612. When the user first interacts with the map GUI 612, the user is guided through an on-boarding flow that allows the setting of individual location sharing preferences.

Regardless of whether the user chooses to show someone their location, the user can always see their current location on the map, and when the user's bitmoji 640 is no longer visible, snap back, so that the map focus is on the user You can re-center the position. 8A depicts an exemplary embodiment in which the viewing user's location is indicated by a custom user-selected or user-generated user interface element in the form of a user's bitmoji 640.

Location sharing preferences may be changed from the graphical user interface of FIG. 8A. In this embodiment, changes to location sharing preferences include (a) entering invisible mode (also referred to herein as Ghost Mode) where the user's location is not visible by any other user; and (b) changing default location sharing settings and/or respective settings for different friend users and/or groups of friend users.

Location sharing may be turned off or on within the map GUI 612 to enter or exit ghost mode. In this embodiment, the ghost mode can be toggled on/off via the map pin icon 808 in the upper right (see FIG. 8A). When location sharing is off (ie, in ghost mode), the user's location is no longer displayed in the map GUI 612 on the other user's client devices 102. However, the user can still see his location in the map GUI on his device. When in ghost mode, a ghost icon (not shown) instead of a map pin icon 808 pulses slowly in the upper right corner of the screen.

Note that the ghost mode functionality described herein should be distinct from turning off location services on the mobile user device. Thus, when the ghost mode is turned on, the device location services of the client device 102 are still functioning, so the user location can still be determined and displayed on the map GUI 612 of the user's own device 102 and, social media content captured in ghost mode is still geo-tagged.

When the user turns on ghost mode after being previously on the map, the user's bitmoji 640 disappears from other people's maps within seconds. When in ghost mode, the user can still see anyone on the map who has chosen to share their location with the user.

When the user selects his or her bitmoji 640, a user bubble or user panel 816 is launched at the bottom of the touchscreen 606, allowing the user to set their location sharing preferences via a settings soft button 824. make them accessible The user panel 816 further includes a location-agnostic collection icon in the form of a My Story icon 832. My Story icon 832 is selectable to launch a replay of the viewing user's My Story, a location-agnostic collection of social media items (here, short-term snaps) submitted by the user. Similar to the other location-agnostic GUI features disclosed herein, location-agnostic in this context is that the collection of social media items playable via the My Story icon 832 is related to any location constraint. are collated and displayed without, meaning that they are not affected by the geo-tagging information associated with the respective items, by the user's current location, or by the current focus of the map 618.

<i>Location Sharing Preferences</i>

Selecting the settings soft button 824 provides the user with options for specifying who can see their location, and at what granularity, in this example embodiment, the location sharing preferences interface 840.) (FIG. 8B) is displayed on the map GUI 612. The default shared granularity options provided in this exemplary embodiment include:

- In this embodiment, the user's Bitmoji 640 is at the user's actual location (eg, indicated by location services of the client device 102) to friend users via their map GUIs 612. Precise means to be displayed. That is, the display position and the actual position for the user are substantially the same; and

- City meaning that the display location of the user's Bitmoji 640 will be different from the actual location, but will be located within the defined geographic area corresponding to the current real location. In this exemplary embodiment, the defined geographic area in which the user's location is displayed is at the city level (eg, Venice, CA, London, etc.).

When a city option is selected for a particular group of users or for particular individuals, the user's bitmoji 640 in this exemplary embodiment is a user of the selected people (or people within the selected group) at a random location within that city. It will be shown in the map GUI 612 created on the devices 102, which in this embodiment will not change unless the user leaves the city. 8C shows an example of display of user bitmoji 640 in interactive map 618 of map GUI 612 at this city-level display granularity, where, broadly, the city in which the user is located (shown A user bitmoji 640 is shown at a random location within the city, with an associated label 860 designating it (which in the illustrated example is Santa Monica).

Features related to the intentionally inaccurate display of the user's location, on the one hand, are that the instance of the map GUI 612 created on one's own device 102 (eg, the display location of the user bitmoji 640) 8A) corresponding to the user's actual location, and, on the other hand, instances (eg, user Note that with a labeled city-level display such as that shown in FIG. 8C, where the display position of Bitmoji 640 is different from the user's actual position), the effect is that the user's position is displayed differently. In this exemplary embodiment, the display location of user bitmoji 640 at a non-precision regional level (eg, city level) is the same across different buddy user devices 102, so that different buddies are a user Bitmoji 640 can be viewed as being displayed at the same random location. In other embodiments, the display position may be different for different buddy users.

Accordingly, this aspect of the present disclosure includes: determining a location of a user device associated with a user of a social media application; determining a user-selected location display setting that specifies how the user's location is displayed on a map-based GUI that is displayed to other users of the social media application, the location display setting having different respective precisions on the map-based GUI. selected from a predetermined set of location display settings corresponding to the display of the user's location at the levels; and presenting the user on the friend user's map-based GUI by rendering UI elements associated with the user at a location on the map-based GUI according to the selected location display setting.

The defined geographic area is intended to be available only at the city level in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 8B. In other embodiments, different or additional levels of display granularity that identify different levels of cartographically and/or politically defined geographic areas, such as, for example, a county, city, town, or neighborhood level can be provided. In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 8B, ghost mode may be toggled at a general level (via ghost mode toggle 841), as well as to user groups via group selector 842 and friend selector 843 respectively. It should be noted that this may be selected for or for individual friend users. In some embodiments, the displayed user location remains fixed at the randomly selected display location until the user device 102 leaves the defined geographic area. Accordingly, a new display position is determined each time the user enters the relevant area in some embodiments.

As noted, a user may also select different groups of other users whose location will be displayed via location sharing preference interface 840, in some embodiments for different respective groups or for a different respective individual. You can specify different display properties for them. In this example, the audience options available via group selector 842 are: Best Friends, Friends, and Custom (people specified by friend selector 843). is an individual-level whitelist of).

Once friends are selected, all new people added to the user's friends list are selected according to the granularity level selected in group selector 842 (e.g., selectable by precision or city level in group selector 842 in FIG. 8B); You will be able to see your location automatically. If they are already sharing with the user, they will appear on the user's map within seconds.

In this exemplary embodiment, the location sharing relationships are two-way - if John is sharing his location with Jack, then Jack's map 618) will not see John on the screen. Users cannot add anyone other than friends to the custom section. The user can also define, via the friend selector 843, more specialized permissions for specific people, overriding default settings.

When viewing the map GUI 612, the user will thus be able to see the locations of all his friends who have shared the location with him on the map 618. As discussed, each user is represented by a bitmoji 640 in this exemplary embodiment. If the friend does not have bitmoji 640, the profile picture in the generic UI element is shown. If there are no profile pictures available for a particular friend, a default icon (eg, a blank profile) is displayed in the corresponding location.

<i>Friend-level access via friend icon/friend carousel</i>

In this exemplary embodiment, friend-level access to friend information and friend-specific content is enabled via interactive map 618. This friend-level access is distinct from location-based access mechanisms such as location-based search or snap collections accessible via respective geo-anchored story icons 631, 633. One example of such a friend-level access mechanism is a friend bubble or friend panel 909 (FIG. 9A) that pops up at the bottom of the screen when the user taps the displayed friend's bitmoji 640. The friends panel 909 and the friends carousel 918 forming part of it provide a number of functionality to the user.

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 9A, the friends panel 909 displays summary information about the user. As illustrated in FIG. 9A, the friends panel 909 forms part of a friends carousel 918 that allows the user to selectively switch focus between different friends. Note that in addition to the main friends panel 909, the friends carousel 918 includes a next friend panel 909 whose left edge is exposed on the right side of the touchscreen 606.

A user may swipe between friends on map 618 via friend carousel 918. In this exemplary embodiment, switching between friends is accomplished by swiping the current focus friend panel 909 left or right. Swipe left or right on the friends panel 909 to view the next or previous friends panel 909, as the case may be. In this exemplary embodiment, swiping to a particular friend automatically centers map 618 on that friend's bitmoji 640. Note that all of the friends the user has permission to view, not just the friends visible in the map viewport 621, must be available as part of the friends carousel 918. In this embodiment the friends are sorted in the carousel by update recency.

Friends panel 909, without leaving map GUI 612, temporarily replaces interactive map 618 with chat soft button 918, which can be selected to launch chat interface 950 (see FIG. 9B). also includes. In other embodiments, tapping the friend bitmojis 640 displays a fly-out menu and initiating a chat session is one of the selectable options.

In this exemplary embodiment, selecting the chat soft button 918 causes the chat interface 950 to pop up modal over the map 618, which can be swipe down to release have. Incoming chat notifications can be opened in this modal view.

Friends carousel 918 additionally provides location-agnostic access to social media content provided by respective friend users via map GUI 612. In this exemplary embodiment, such location-agnostic access is available via location-agnostic collection icons in the form of respective friend story icons 932 displayed in friends panel 909. A friend story icon 932 indicates a replay of the corresponding story (which in this example is the selected friend's My Story) comprising a series of snaps uploaded by the corresponding friend user, without any location constraints on the material being replayed. It is selectable to trigger. In other words, no location information has any effect on the availability and identity of these snaps. Thus, the friend carousel 918 via the friend story icon 932 indicates that the available snaps or stories are thus independent of the friend user's current location, the current focus of the map viewport 621, or the viewing user's current location. provide links to social media content that are not located anywhere from the user's location, in that they will be identical. In other words, these and other location-agnostic access features of map GUI 612 provide access to friend content via map GUI 612 in a manner similar to that provided by a non-map-based GUI. Thus, in one exemplary embodiment, upon selecting a particular friend Bitmoji 640, the available snaps and/or stories of the target user are displayed regardless of any geo-tagging information of the respective snaps/stories. A viewable menu or user interface element (in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 9A, the selected user's respective friend story icon 932) is displayed.

As described below, certain aspects of the search mechanisms provided by map GUI 612 similarly provide access to friend users' location-agnostic social media content via map GUI 612.

<i><u>Search Functions</u></i>

In addition to viewing clustered stories by selection of story icons 631, 633, a user may access snaps using one or more search functionality provided by map GUI 612. In this exemplary embodiment, the map GUI 612 provides a number of different search mechanisms through which users can access targeted social media content, including:

- a search bar 665 (FIG. 6A), allowing entry of a text string search query to cause the display of search results comprising a list of entries that satisfy the search query (FIG. 10C);

- Location-based searches that retrieve social media content based at least in part on their respective geo-tag information. In some embodiments, these location-based search mechanisms include:

o location-targeted search triggered by clicking or tapping at a target location on map 618 (illustrated schematically in FIGS. 11A and 11B); and

o friend-based location search to find social media content based at least in part on the location of the selected friend user; and

- One or more friend-level access mechanisms that provide access to social media content of selected friend users. In certain embodiments, these include:

o access to location-agnostic friend content via user icons, friend carousel 918 and/or individual friend panels 909; and

○ Location-agnostic collection icons displayed in association with respective friend users in a list of search results (eg, friend story icons 932 as described below with reference to FIGS. 10A-10C).

<i>Search bar mechanism</i>

Two exemplary embodiments of the operation of a search mechanism provided via a search bar 665 are schematically illustrated with reference to FIGS. 10A and 10B-10D, respectively. Discussing first the example embodiment of FIG. 10A, selection of the search bar 665 (FIG. 6A) may result in a search box 1020 for entering a text-based search query, and each displayed below the search box 1020. It will be appreciated that results in the display of a drop-down search interface 1010 that includes a multiple list of suggestions 1030 within the user interface cells of In the example embodiments of FIGS. 10B-10D, individual suggestion cells correspond to individual snaps, stories, places, and/or friends. As can be seen with reference to the corresponding screenshot of the search interface 1010 of FIG. 10C, the specific cells displayed as part of the suggestions 1030 are stories, friends, or places that satisfy the entered search query. are dynamically filtered in response to text entries in the search box 1020 to include only those.

When the user clicks on a selected cell in the list of suggestions 1030, the map GUI 612 in this example automatically navigates to a corresponding point on the map 618 fly-over. If the selected cell is for a spike collection or cluster (also referred to as a spike story elsewhere herein), the snaps in the corresponding story start playing sequentially. If the selected cell is a friend cell, the map viewport 621 navigates to the corresponding friend bitmoji 640, and optionally the associated friend panel 909 pops up. In the example embodiment of FIG. 10A, at least some aspects of the display search results or suggestions 1030 are search results from any location, without any constraint based on the user's current location or display area of the map 618. are position-agnostic, returning. In particular, the “My Friends” section of suggestions 1030 in the embodiment of FIG. 10A includes any friends the user has permission to view.

Accordingly, the features provided by the search interface 1010 of FIG. 10A include:

- searching and navigating to a location anywhere in the world by selecting the corresponding suggestion cell; and

- Viewing suggestions 1030 of social media content of interest before typing, and viewing suggestions that dynamically satisfy a search query during or after typing. In the exemplary embodiment of Figure 10a, these include:

○ Friends of the user identified as “My Friends” in section 1032;

o Trending Place Stories, Event Stories, and/or Spike Stories or clusters, regardless of location, identified as “Trending Locations” in section 1034;

o Nearby place stories, event stories, and/or spike stories or clusters, identified as “Popular Nearby” in section 1036.

Note that "My Friends" and "Trending Locations" in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 10A show friends/content around the world, not just friends/content shown in the viewport. All friends are shown in section 1032 in the order they were most recently viewed. In contrast, “Popular Nearby” entries are location constrained, in this exemplary embodiment limited to stories that are currently within the area of the map viewport 621. In other embodiments, the location constraint is based on the user's current location as indicated by the client device 102.

The “Trending Locations” and “Popular Nearby” stories are ranked globally according to a metric based on underlying social media activity, and in this example embodiment according to the number of unique users contributing to the story. In some embodiments, trending locations may be ranked according to anomalous metrics or interestingness scores. In yet other embodiments, the surfacing of stories in search interface 1010 may be based on raw snap volume, snap density over time, rate of increase in snap volume, and the like.

When users click on an entry in the search box drop-down, the map GUI navigates to the corresponding point on map 618 fly-over, after which the story/spike cluster begins to play, or optionally friends panel 909) is popped up.

Retrieving available functionality via other example embodiments of the map GUI 612 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 10B-10D. 10C and 10D illustrate the behavior of a search interface during and after typing by a user in a search box that forms part of the search interface 1010. It will be appreciated that items listed during and after typing are limited to those items that satisfy the search string entered so far (eg, friends, places, events, or stories). Each of the proposals 1030 of a number of different sections in which respective entries are ranked by priority will be individually described below. Different embodiments may use different combinations of these suggested sections.

FRIENDS ON THE MAP—This section, designated 1040 in FIG. 10B, shows friends on map 618. In this exemplary embodiment, the displayed friends are limited to those seen in the map viewport 621 (ie, in the geographic area of the map 618 displayed immediately prior to launching the search interface 1010). In other embodiments, the friends displayed include any friends currently available somewhere on map 618. In this example, the top 4 friends are listed, followed by a View More button if necessary. The user can tap a friend cell to find them on map 618.

Each friend cell, when available, includes a location-agnostic collection icon in the form of a friend story icon 932. Any of the friend story icons 932 may be tapped to view the corresponding friend story modally. Viewing a story involves a sequential replay of a series of snaps included in the story. Each friend story icon 932 in this exemplary embodiment includes a user interface element in the form of a circular thumbnail to the right of the respective friend's name. In this example, thus playable stories, regardless of any location information that may be associated with the story or with any snaps that form part of the story, are thus the location-agnostic social media content of the target friend user. In accordance with the disclosed feature of map-based access to, including any of a friend's stories. However, in other embodiments, stories surfaced for replay are limited to those that are geo-tagged on the current map view.

In addition to the friend story icon 932, each friend entry in this exemplary embodiment includes an associated bitmoji, name, last viewed timestamp, and an associated location indicator. Listed friends are sorted by update freshness.

ALL FRIENDS—This section, identified by reference number 1050 in FIG. 10C, surfaces friends that satisfy the search string, regardless of whether the friend is on the map or not, in that it surfaces the My Friends section 1032 of FIG. 10A.) is similar to In addition to the My Story icon 832, a user name and score indicator are shown as subtext for each friend. In this exemplary embodiment, the displayed score is a user score used throughout the application to represent the user's engagement level. In some embodiments, as previously described, tapping a friend's cell navigates the map to focus on that friend's display location. However, in this exemplary embodiment, tapping the cell modally launches the chat interface 950 (see FIG. 9B). Upon dismissing the chat, the user returns to the search interface 1010 again.

TOP STORIES - This section, identified by reference number 1042 in the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 10B, shows top stories from around the world (selected daily by curators or ranked by quality score or viewer volume).

NEARBY STORIES - This section identified by reference number 1044 in FIG. 10B shows event clusters of interest near or within the viewport. These will be ranked by descending quality score. In some embodiments, nearby stories may be ranked according to an anomaly metric, or according to a ranking score based at least in part on the anomaly metric. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a social media application search interface that automatically surfaces short-lived galleries based at least in part on geographic proximity between the user device and the geolocations associated with the respective galleries. will be. Ranking the surfaced short-term galleries may be based, at least in part, on respective anomaly metrics.

LOCATIONS—This section, identified by reference numeral 1060 in FIG. 10D, shows all points of interest (POIs) or places (as defined by CMS 1224) that match the search query. In some embodiments, surfacing and ranking locations that satisfy the search string include locations that have stories available for replay, ie, have an associated place story. Thus, for example, in the screenshot of FIG. 10D, Blue Lagoon is ranked above Blue Bottle Coffee because the Blue Lagoon has an associated collaborative story, even though the latter is closer to the location of user device 102..

Where a place has a story, a story icon 1063 in the form of a thumbnail is shown in front of the title in this exemplary embodiment (see Fig. 10D). Tapping the story icon 1063 (or anywhere within the cell) auto-plays the story centered on the location on the map. If a place does not have a thumbnail, in this exemplary embodiment tapping a cell returns to the map viewport 621 focusing on the relevant location without playing any story. Fallback prioritization is made (after places with playable stories and/or POIs are prioritized on top) close to the current viewport.

<i>Location-based search with target location on map</i>

As an alternative to entering a text-based search query, the user may use any of the story icons 631, 633 overlaid on the map 618, the friend bitmojis 640, or any other selectable user interface. A location-based search may be initiated by selecting a target location on map 618 that is separate from the element. In this way, the map 618 itself provides an interactive search mechanism. An exemplary embodiment of such a location-based search is schematically illustrated with reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B.

In response to the user's click or tap on a particular location on the map viewport 621, a search for social media items within a predefined radius from the click or tap location is performed. In this exemplary embodiment, this location-based search does not return a list of graphical user interface elements selectable to play the respective items, but instead automatically automates sequential replay of the items returned as a result of the search. trigger with

In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 11A, the selection of the target location 1110 is by haptic contact at the selected on-screen location, which consists of tapping the touchscreen 606 with a single finger 1120 of the user. Thus, tapping a non-thumbnail location on map 618 results in target location 1110, as schematically illustrated in FIG. 11B by a substantially circular geographic search area 1130 centered at target location 1110.) will radiate the search around. Such a location-based search may have a predefined search radius from the tap location. When any snaps are found in the geographic search area 1130, the snaps are automatically played back sequentially, as previously described. If there are no snaps in that area, the search runs again to show that no results are found.

In some embodiments, such a location-based search may be dynamically constrained by a predefined search limit, such that the size of the geographic search area 1130 may vary in different cases. In some embodiments, the search limit for a location-based search is a predefined maximum size defined by the number of snaps located in the search. In the exemplary embodiment, the geographic search area 1130 will thus radiate from the target location 1110 to the point at which a predefined maximum number of snaps are found, after which all snaps from that area will begin to play sequentially. will be. In other words, a predefined search metric or limit is provided in some embodiments to determine when a search should be stopped. As mentioned, the search limit may be an upper limit on the number of positioned snaps, and once the number of positioned snaps reaches the upper limit, the search no longer radiates from the target location. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that different location-based searches may return snaps from geographic search areas 1130 that differ in size depending on the density of snaps in the vicinity of the target location 1110.

In some demonstrative embodiments, this location-triggered social media content search (ie, by a user click/tap at target location 1110 that does not match story icon 631/633 or friend bitmoji 640) triggered searches for social media content uploaded by other users) automatically to exclude social media items included in one or more of the clustered collections represented by respective icons 631, 633 on the map. can be configured. Thus, in this embodiment, the social media application will not replay any snaps that are not included in the search results or are included in any of the place stories or any of the spike stories on the map.

As mentioned, initiating a location-based search by clicking or tapping a non-thumbnail area in this exemplary embodiment results in automatic replay of snaps located within the geographic search area 1130 centered at the target location 1110. trigger In other embodiments, such search input by target location selection may include a graphical user interface element that enumerates snaps found within the search area, including, for example, a thumbnail and username for each found snap. may cause display. The user can then select those that should be replayed from the list of found snaps.

In some embodiments, snaps located in the location-based search are played back in chronological order, as indicated by respective timestamp data indicating when the corresponding snap was uploaded. In some demonstrative embodiments, a sequencing operation may be performed on the subset of snaps identified in the location-based search so that the replay sequence is not strictly chronological. In one exemplary embodiment, an improved sequence for media playback in response to a user tap on the map viewport is to (a) find all snaps within a fixed radius of the tap point, (b) geo-temporal clustering of those snaps. (c) aligning the clusters at a distance from the tap, and (d) aligning by time within the clusters.

In some embodiments, the location-based search is performed for uploaded material within a predefined default period by default. For example, a location-based search may (a) be located within a geographic search area 1130; (b) not included in any story represented by the corresponding story icon 631/633; (c) identify all snaps with timestamps within the default preceding short-lived timespan. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment where snaps are available by default for 24 hours through the map GUI 612, location-based search may by default find snaps with timestamps indicating an upload date within the past 24 hours.

However, in some embodiments, the period preceding which the search is performed is selectively changeable by the user. For example, the search period time range is automatically changeable in response to an interval at which a search input gesture or signal is provided by the user.

In embodiments where the map GUI 612 is displayed on the touchscreen 606 (as was the case in the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 11A and 11B), the geo-temporal search is performed at a particular location within the map 618. is triggered by the haptic contact of, where the search is geographically centered on the target location 1110 defined by the on-screen position of the haptic contact. In some embodiments, the input interval, indicated by the period during which the haptic contact is maintained relative to the touchscreen 606, automatically determines the preceding time range in which the search is performed. In this case, for example, a tap on the screen triggers a geo-temporal search for the material within a default time period, and press and hold triggers a geo-temporal search for the material within an extended time period longer than the default time period. trigger automatically. In one exemplary embodiment, a tap input triggers a geo-temporal search with a 12-hour time range, and a tap and hold triggers a geo-temporal search with a 24-hour time range. In other embodiments, the extended time range is variable in a progressive manner, such that a number of different search time ranges are selectable based on the press-and-hold interval. Operations described with reference to haptic contact on touchscreen 606 may similarly be performed by click-and-hold input in cases where the user input is provided by a cursor control mechanism such as a mouse. Note that you can

Alternatively, or in addition, the search radius (ie, the size of the geographic search area 1130) may vary based on the length of the input interval, with longer input intervals (eg, longer hold periods) Corresponds to a larger search radius.

<i>Location-based search via friend location or for friend content</i>

Some embodiments of the map GUI 612 provide functionality for retrieving social media content having a location constraint based at least in part on a location attribute of a selected friend user. The location constraint may, for example, operate to limit the search to geo-tagged social media content within a predefined geographic range centered on the geographic location of the selected friend user.

For example, in some demonstrative embodiments, the user may trigger a location-based search with a location constraint based on the location of the selected friend user. In one exemplary embodiment, this location-based search for a particular friend location may be performed in a manner similar to that described below with respect to a general location-based search as described with reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B.. Accordingly, in some demonstrative embodiments, various considerations and features discussed for location-based search in general can be applied to location-based search based on friend location, with only minor modifications.

In one example embodiment, a friend-targeted location-based search may be triggered by a user interaction with a friend icon or bitmoji 640 of the target friend user. In such an exemplary embodiment, a click or tap input on bitmoji 640 surfaces a menu or friends panel 909, and a press-and-hold input or click-and-hold input is positioned as previously described. It automatically triggers a base search, and the search area is centered on the location of the selected user. Alternatively, or additionally, in some embodiments a menu or friends panel 909 launched in response to a selection of bitmoji 640 may be targeted to social media targeted with location constraints defined in relation to the selected user's location. and a selectable user interface element for triggering a search for content.

In some embodiments, friend-based social media content search additionally has an owner constraint such that search results are limited to the selected friend user's social media items. In other embodiments or cases, a friend-based social media content search may search for content including, but not limited to, uploaded or provided by a selected friend user.

Other example embodiments in which social media content searches via the map GUI 612 have location constraints based on the location of the selected friend user may include that search results are currently displayed in the map viewport 621 (while map focus is on the selected user). Includes cases limited to displayed items. Results section 1030 in the embodiment of FIG. 10B provides one such example. In other cases, the map GUI 612 provides an option to retrieve content exclusively contributed by the selected target user. In response to triggering such a friend-specific search, the user may change the focus and/or zoom level of the map viewport 621, and social media items surfaced in the map viewport 621 may be posted by the target friend user. Limited to social media content.

As described herein with reference to some example embodiments, in some embodiments a social media application running on a user device may indicate that the displayed geographic locations of at least some friend users are different from the actual geographic locations of those users. Create a map GUI with a map viewport that can do that. In some embodiments, a friend-centered location-based social media content search may be based on the actual location of the selected friend user, independent of the displayed location of the selected friend user on the map GUI. It can be centered on geographic location. In other embodiments, the search may be performed with reference to the displayed location of the selected friend user.

<i><u>Overview of Map GUI Functionality</u></i>

In use, the map GUI 612 thus surfaces the different types of location-based stories that a user can view from the map 618. 6A and 6B, a user may access snaps posted to Our Story from anywhere in the world via a map GUI 612. This may be accomplished by navigating to the different geographic areas displayed within the map viewport 621. In particular, the displayed geographic area may be changed by zooming in or zooming out, and by moving the focus area of the map viewport 621. In the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 6A and 6B where the map GUI 612 is provided on the touchscreen 606, zoom in and zoom out is a pinch-out or pinch-in haptic input. can be achieved by haptic gestures in the form of Movement of the map 618 within the map viewport 621 to change the displayed geographic area is accomplished by a haptic dragging gesture at any point on the map 618.

In this exemplary embodiment, map 618 is not selectively rotatable by the user, and has a fixed default orientation with respect to touchscreen 606. In other embodiments, map 618 may have a fixed orientation with respect to the Earth. In some embodiments, map 618 is selectively rotatable, eg, all map content rotates around a fixed anchor.

As discussed at length above, in any particular map viewport 621, the displayed information may include:

- visually displaying the geographic distribution of snap uploading activity (eg default snap lifetime, in this example 24 hours) within the preceding window, allowing the user to identify places with more or less activity, color-coded heatmap (625). This allows the user to more effectively target location-based searches via the map GUI 612. In some embodiments, color-coded heatmap 625 is shown only at the highest magnification level. However, in this exemplary embodiment, the color-coded heatmap 625 is rendered at all zoom levels.

- Thumbnail icons 631, 633 for surfaced content forming part of short-lived galleries or stories. As previously described, in this exemplary embodiment these are place icons 631 for geo-anchored stories associated with specific labeled locations, and surfaced based on anomalous levels of geo-spatial activity. Includes spike icons 633 for location-based stories.

- Friend Bitmojis 640 of Friend Users most frequently contacted by the user running on the client device 102 and logged into the Social Media Client Application 104 from which the Map GUI 612 is created.

In some embodiments, the spike icons 633 are not shown at some magnification levels. In a particular example embodiment, the spike icons 633 are not shown at the original zoom level that the map GUI 612 loads by default. In this example, only heat map 625, friend bitmojis 640, and multiple place icons 631 are displayed on map 618 at the original zoom level. As the user zooms in, spike icons 633 representing respective activity clusters surface.

It will be appreciated that different icons 631, 633 surface at different zoom levels. In this exemplary embodiment, the map GUI 612 displays up to a predefined maximum number of place icons 631 and up to a predefined maximum number of spike icons 633 in any particular view. For example, at any zoom level, the top three place stories (ranked by snap volume) are surfaced by displaying their respective place icons 631 in the map viewport 621. Likewise, at any zoom level, the top three spike stories (ranked by anomaly or singularity metric value) are surfaced by displaying their respective spike icons 633 in the map viewport 621.

In addition to viewing stories surfaced on map 618 by respective story icons 631 and 633, the user can access any snaps uploaded to Our Story and whose gallery engagement timer or availability lifetime has not yet expired. One or more of the search functions described above may be used for this purpose.

It will be appreciated that the map GUI 612 is dynamic in that the information displayed therein changes dynamically over time. New snaps may continue to be uploaded to Our Story, and the underlying social media items on which the surfacing of the story icons 631, 633 and the creation of the heat map 625 are based will continue further due to the expiration of the availability of the snaps. can change However, in this exemplary embodiment, the information displayed in the map viewport 621 is not dynamically updated during display of any particular geographic area. Instead, the change in focus of the map viewport 621 involves receiving updated information about the story icons 631, 633 and the heat map 625 from the application server 112.

An advantage of the map GUI 612 as described in conjunction with the example embodiments is that it provides user-friendly and intuitive interaction with geographically dispersed social media content. The provision of different types of social media galleries (eg, represented by spike icons 633 and place icons 631, respectively) provides for a very large number of individual social media that may be made available through the social media platform. A system is provided that automatically surfaces only the content most appropriate for user-selection in such a way that the complexity of the items is reduced, and allows the selection of targeted content that the user may be interested in.

Exemplary system

12 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a social media platform system 1200 configured to provide a map-based graphical user interface for a social media application, such as the map GUI 612 described with reference to FIGS. 6A-11B.. In some embodiments, system 1200 and its associated components may be provided server-side, for example, by social media application server system 108 (FIG. 1). In such cases, respective components of system 1200 may be provided by execution of social media server application 114 on application server 112. In other embodiments, one or more components of system 1200 are provided on the client side, for example, by execution of social media client application 104 on respective client device 102 (FIG. 1). In still other embodiments, the system 1200 is cooperatively provided on the server side and the client side, wherein the application server 112 and the client device 102 in communication therewith are a social media client application on the client device 102. and to provide the respective system components by execution of 104 and by execution of social media server application 114 on application server 112.

The system 1200 includes a map engine 1208 for generating a map GUI 612 that includes location-based social media information displayed in the map GUI 612. Accordingly, the map engine 1208 is configured to generate or facilitate the creation of a map 618 (FIG. 6A) in the map viewport 621 of the client device 102. To this end, the map engine 1208 surfaces certain story icons 631, 633 to cause its display, identifies the respective friend bitmojis 640 to cause its display, and displays the heat map information. generate and display or cause display of a heat map 625 overlaid on the map 618, and perform operations that provide other related functionalities of the map GUI 612 described with reference to FIGS. 6A-11B. can be

The system 1200 further includes a replay mechanism 1216 configured to cause an automated sequential replay of the content of the set of social media items or snaps on the client device 102. Accordingly, the replay mechanism 1216 may result in sequential display of all snaps within the selected location story or spike story as previously described herein. In some embodiments, the replay mechanism 1216 can provide for sending a set of snaps to the client device 102 in response to selection of the corresponding story icon 631/633. In some such embodiments, information automatically transmitted by application server 112 to client device 102 upon initial rendering of a map view in map GUI 612 is a story icon surfaced in map viewport 621. may include the first few (eg, two or three) snaps for each of s 631, 633. Upon selection of a particular story icon 631 / 633, the first few snaps in the story are immediately available for replay, and subsequent snaps in the story are applied to the application server 112 during presentation of the first few snaps.) is pulled from

System 1200 also includes a content management system (CMS) 1224 that enables server-side management functionalities. CMS 1224 provides an administration interface that allows operators to manage content, for example, by defining various attributes of different venues and/or event stories. In this exemplary embodiment, CMS 1224 also includes a collection management system 204 (FIG. 2) as previously described. CMS 1224 is configured for automated or semi-automated compilation of respective social media galleries or stories as previously described. This may include curation or moderation of the respective stories by use of a server-side curation interface provided by CMS 1224.

System 1200 further includes a search engine 1233 configured to provide search functionalities for social media content via map GUI 612. In particular, in this exemplary embodiment, the search engine 1233 provides a location-by-direct selection of the target location on the search interface 1010 (FIGS. 10A-10D) and the map 618 (FIGS. 11A-11B)- Provides user-directed searching through both based search.

System 1200 determines respective user locations, represented by respective device locations in this example embodiment, and determines specific friend users viewable through map GUI 612 for each user. and a user location serving mechanism 1237 configured to provide respective user location information for display of associated user icons at corresponding display locations. In some embodiments, the user location serving mechanism 1237, as part of the server system 108, is a user location datastore and a per-user access control list (ACL) that enumerates specific friend users that each user can see. includes In some embodiments, the per-user ACL specifies a respective viewing level granularity for each viewable user. In these example embodiments, the user location serving mechanism 1237 is further configured to determine and manage the respective user display granularity. This includes calculating non-precision display positions for some users and causing display of corresponding user icons at the non-precision display positions.

The system 1200 also includes an analyzer 1250 configured to process the social media activity data to calculate anomalous metric values for different areas to be served by the map GUI 612. In some embodiments, the analyzer 1250 uses probabilistic rendering of individual snaps to generate a historical model of the geospatial distribution of social media activity. Activity data from the current or approximate live time window is mapped to the historical model, and respective anomaly scores are calculated for different respective locations in the map. These anomaly scores may be used by map engine 1208 to surface content via map GUI 612, to determine the size of spike icons 633, and rendering of heat map information, and the like.

Example methods

<b><u>place CMS</u></b>

<i><u>Location restrictions and/or exclusions</u></i>

Another aspect of the disclosure relates to mechanisms or tools for providing one or more administrators of a social media application with one or more management functionalities for different locations within a map. As described below, this management functionality includes the ability to select places to be displayed on the map GUI 612, and the ability to blacklist or otherwise limit or change user access to selected areas of the map. may include Such blacklisting or limiting of the availability of social media items based on geo-tag information may include supplying data from moderation to identify places where multiple bad snaps occur. Automated identification of problematic areas in this way facilitates blacklisting or, for example, age restriction of identified problematic areas.

Some embodiments provide for automated geo-based restriction or moderation based on user feedback or complaint information being considered. In one exemplary embodiment, when the volume or frequency of complaints or reports received relating to social media items (eg, snaps) received from within the defined area exceeds a predefined threshold. Availability parameters for age-restricted or defined geographic areas (also referred to herein as “places”, as described in more detail below) may be sent automatically. In other embodiments, this automated identification of problematic areas results in an automated suggestion or surfacing of these places in the curation interface 1229 (FIG. 12) where a human administrator can determine and apply the appropriate settings..

These and other functionalities are described herein as a venue content management system (placement CMS 2048, FIG. 12 and An exemplary form of an internal website, also referred to as FIG. 20), is provided by the internal admin platform and will be described in greater detail below. It will be understood, however, that similar internal management tools or mechanisms may be provided in different forms, and that the functionality described herein applies equally to such alternative architectures.

Venue CMS 2048 provides administrators the ability to label specific geographic locations with thumbnails and associated labels. In embodiments where place icons 631 are displayed on the map GUI 612 both for administrator-defined places and for high activity based ad hoc places (eg, spike stories or clusters) For spike icons 633), these different types of place icons 631 can be distinguished by an associated label. Note that some embodiments may only associate with admin-defined places to provide a display on a map of gallery icons, but not for ad hoc places based on high or anomalous activity levels.

This exemplary embodiment is displayed in FIG. 11A, where labeled venue icons 631 Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park, and the Empire State Building are venues defined and labeled via venue CMS 2048, other unlabeled venues. Icons (here including circular thumbnails with no associated labels) spike for ad hoc geo-anchored short-lived galleries surfaced based on high activity levels and/or high anomalous levels, as previously described. icons 633. In other embodiments, the only geo-anchored gallery icons displayed on the map are for admin-defined places. In such cases, however, certain predefined places within the current map viewport 621 where the corresponding place icons 631 are displayed on the map GUI 612 may be associated with social media such as the level of anomaly discussed elsewhere. It is automatically determined based on activity metrics.

For areas of the map that have a permanently or regularly high level of activity, administrators define and label these places as permanent "popular places" thumbnails, such as the case for the three labeled thumbnails shown in FIG. 11A you can choose to do

As mentioned, the venue CMS 2048 is an internal website where venues can be defined. 12, the venue CMS 2048 provides a curation interface 1229 when accessed by an administrator using a terminal device in communication with the venue CMS 2048. It will be appreciated that the curation interface 1229 is displayed on the user device or on the administrator's terminal.

In this exemplary embodiment, the venue CMS 2048 is used to cause display of the places on the map, blacklist the places from the map, and selectively change availability parameters for different geographic areas. 13A shows a screenshot of a curation interface 1229 for a venue CMS 2048.

An existing feature of some social media platforms is that users define geo-fences and geofilters on social media items with geo-tags located within their respective geo-fences. is the ability to apply A geofilter in this context is a decorative overlay applied to social media items such as photos or snaps. In this exemplary embodiment, the venue CMS 2048 helps build a list of places using existing geofilters. Such creation and curation of venue lists may include:

Based on how popular the filter is (if possible), the tool displays a predefined number of top places. Instead, place popularity can be measured by, on average, how many snaps are taken from the fence and shared on Our Story.

In this example, geofilters are only used for places or types of places that the administrator wants to label, so in this case geo-fences for neighbors, cities, etc. are excluded.

A geofilter fence is used as a location fence. A place fence in this example is also used when the user taps a place in map 618, in response, the resulting search is limited to social media items with geo-tags located within that place fence. This search is a variant of the location-based search described with reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B, with the difference that the search area is limited to defined boundaries of a specific place where the target location is located.

If the geofilter has a centroid, that centroid is used to display the place on the map GUI 612. Otherwise the center of the fence polygon is used as the center point of the place fence.

To facilitate display of the place on a map, the place is given a name and a thumbnail is assigned to the place via the place CMS 2048. In this case, the administrator may use the original geofilter name as deemed appropriate. Otherwise, the administrator can manually label the respective places. Regarding the selection of thumbnails, the administrator turns pages of a predefined number of most recent snaps (in this exemplary embodiment, 100 statistics) in the relevant polygon, from which a particular snap can be selected for use as a thumbnail image. can see. In other embodiments, a thumbnail image for a relevant place, eg, a most recent thumbnail, may be automatically selected.

As previously described, the venue CMS 2048 additionally provides functionality to blacklist or otherwise limit the surfacing of social media content to the map GUI 612 based on the geographic origin of the respective social media items.. 13A is a screenshot of one example of a curation interface 1229 provided by a venue CMS 2048 to define venues as specific geographic areas and/or to assign different availability parameters to different defined venues. shows In this exemplary embodiment, places are assigned the general availability parameter by default, meaning that access to snaps from that place is not restricted. Administrator can blacklist/exclude availability parameters (in this case snaps from that region are not available to all users), or age limit (in this case, snaps from that region are older than a predefined threshold age) (available only to users) It will be appreciated that other availability parameters and states may apply in other embodiments. In other embodiments, the default availability parameter may also be different, for example requiring a whitelist for access by an administrator.

Note that hidden and unreviewed entries for some places in the screenshot of FIG. 13A relate to visibility through the associated story icons, note whether you can see snaps from the associated place do. Accordingly, snaps originating from hidden or unreviewed locations can still be viewed (eg, by one of the described search mechanisms) via the map GUI 612. Otherwise, snaps from blacklisted or age-restricted places are thus not accessible.

As shown in the screenshot of FIG. 13B, the curation interface 1229 "Add" provides administrative users the ability to draw polygons in one-off areas of the map to blacklist or otherwise limit them. New Place" UI 1305. In this example this is accomplished by adding a new place (using UI 1305) and marking it as “blacklisted” in curation interface 1229 of FIG. 13A. In the screenshot of FIG. 13A, the case where the availability status of Cheetah's Strip Club is set to “blacklisted” using the drop-down status selector mechanism 1313 is shown. Blacklisting functionality can be used regularly to exclude defined areas from social media applications, such that social media items with geo-tags that indicate origins from within the blacklisted area are mapped to the map GUI. 612 will be excluded from accessibility to users. Thus, blacklisted areas will typically be areas associated with inappropriate content, such as adult events or locations.

As noted, in some demonstrative embodiments the venue CMS 2048 may provide functionality to provide geographic-based content filtering in a binary manner where any particular location is included or excluded from the map for all users. In addition, it allows for variations in the availability of social media items from a particular geographic area based, at least in part, on one or more attributes of the requesting user. In certain example embodiments, administrators can associate respective age ratings to various selected geographic regions, in response social media content from these regions is older than the respective age ratings. It is only available to users through the map GUI 612.

Thus, for example, an administrator may create a venue associated with a particular adult establishment by drawing a polygon around it on the curation interface 1229 using the venue CMS 2048, then An age limit of 18 may be assigned to defined places. Thereafter, the snaps originating from that adult facility are displayed in the map GUI 612 only by users whose ages (eg, as indicated in an age attribute associated with respective users in the social media platform's database) are greater than 18 years of age.) can be seen through In this way, it may be seen that different content is available to different users on the map GUI 612 based on respective user attributes.

Thus, as exemplified by the preceding description, an aspect of the present disclosure provides a map-based GUI (and making social media content available on a social media platform via a map GUI (612).

In some embodiments, a number of defined geographic areas may be blacklisted, and any social media item with geo-tag information corresponding to one of the blacklisted areas may be displayed to the user via the map GUI 612. unavailable for viewing. Alternatively, or in addition, various defined geographic areas may be defined as restricted areas, and any social media item with geo-tag information corresponding to one of the restricted areas may be pre-defined using one or more user attributes. Available for viewing by users via the map GUI 612 only if the likelihood criteria are met. In some embodiments, availability criteria may define an age limit for respective restricted areas, such that social media content from restricted areas is only available to users who are older than a predefined threshold age. Different age restrictions may apply to different restricted areas.

Accordingly, some embodiments are:

receiving administrator input assigning an availability parameter for a particular geographic area, wherein the assigned availability parameter is different from a default availability parameter associated with geographic areas that do not have an administrator-assigned availability parameter associated therewith;

creating a map-based GUI (eg, map GUI 612) on the user device, the map GUI having an interactive map, through which social media items geo-tagged are viewed on the user device accessible for -; and

A method is provided, comprising making available geo-tagged social media content via a map GUI, the method comprising associated geo-tag information corresponding to a particular geographic area based at least in part on an assigned availability parameter. limiting the availability of each social media item with

The method includes, for each social media item, determining a location of the social media item based on geo-tagging information associated therewith; determining an availability parameter associated with the determined location; and determining an availability status for each social media item based on the respective associated availability parameter. As previously described, in some embodiments the availability parameter for at least some geographic areas includes an age limit value. In such cases, limiting the availability of social media content may include, for each social media item originating from the restricted area: determining a respective age limit value corresponding to the location of the social media item; determining an age value associated with a user associated with a particular instance of the map GUI (612); and making the social media item accessible via the map GUI 612, provided that the user's age value is greater than a threshold age indicated by the corresponding age restriction value.

Some embodiments provide for automated social media content filtering and/or geographic variation of quality ratings. In such embodiments the administrator can (eg, as defined by the polygons drawn by the administrator via the venue CMS 2048 as described above) for different geographic regions (eg, see FIGS. 16-17C). different filtering/quality estimation parameters (such as by use of the techniques described below with reference) may be defined. In such cases, the administrator may specify, for example, that different metadata fields and/or different quality evaluation models are used for quality-based content filtering for different geographic regions.

To facilitate identification of venues that are candidates for blacklist and/or age restriction, the venue CMS 2048 has the functionality to surface the venues identified by user reports. These blacklist candidates are surfaced in the curation interface 1229 of FIG. 13A as Source = “Reported” based on user reports of inappropriate or objectionable content. In some embodiments, venue CMS 2048 is a restriction resolution channel that allows users to contest a blacklist, age restriction, or any other form of restriction of availability associated with their respective domain. channel) is provided.

Referring now to FIG. 14, shown is an example method 1400 in which geographic variations of the availability of social media items via a social media platform are implemented. Although method 1400 is again described with reference to map GUI 612 and venue CMS 2048 previously described, it should be understood that the described techniques are not limited to these example embodiments.

At operation 1412, different non-default availability parameters are applied to the respective defined geographic areas (and additionally places). For example, using curation interface 1229 (FIG. 13A), some places are blacklisted, others are age-restricted, and still others are left with default availability settings.

In some embodiments, such venue restriction is automated or semi-automated, comprising, in operation 1404, accessing a moderation input or complaint information indicating user complaints or reports for snaps originating from different locations. It can be implemented or prompted in the specified process. At operation 1408, a list of candidate places for restriction is identified based on, for example, an over-threshold complaint volume, frequency, or spike. Based on the candidate list, constraint suggestions are surfaced in curation interface 1229, in some embodiments. In one embodiment, the identified candidate locations are automatically blacklisted, and the administrator can change the availability parameter if deemed incorrectly applied.

At operation 1416, social media content is received in the form of geo-tagged social media items (eg, snaps) posted to a social media platform (eg, submitted to Our Story) for general availability., forming a set of snaps potentially available through the map GUI 612.

In operation 1420, the map engine 2008 automatically filters all snaps received from the blacklisted places. This provides a filter set of snaps available through the map GUI 612.

In operation 1424, the client device 102 sends a request or call to view a particular area within the map viewport 621. In response, the map engine 2008 identifies an age value associated with the user account of the requesting client device 102, and then, in operation 1428, any snap to which the user is not granted access based on their age. Filter or prevent access to, allowing access only to a set of age-filtered snaps. This process may, for example, respond to a location-based search in a particular area. Alternatively, or in addition, age filtering is about including snaps in stories (eg, place stories, spike stories, and/or event stories) accessible through map GUI 612.

Finally, the requested content (excluding any filtered snaps) is passed to the client device 102 for display.

The foregoing aspects of the present disclosure include various illustrative embodiments listed below as Examples 1-20, which examples should be read in light of at least part of the foregoing description.

<i><u>Variable Catch Interval for Social Media Availability by Geography</u></i>

Instead of, or in addition to, enabling restriction of access to specific geographic areas, in some embodiments, venue CMS 2048 makes social media items available via (a) map GUI 612. and/or (b) provide administrative functionality to provide for geographic variations in intervals following postings included in social media content, for example, to generate heat map information and the like. As discussed at length above, short-term social media content is social media content that is only available through an associated social media platform for a limited, predefined amount of time. Thus, for example, a snap uploaded to a user's "My Story" is durable in some common implementations and has an availability interval or lifetime of 24 hours after the time of posting. In terms further used herein, My Story gallery thus has a catch interval of 24 hours, meaning that only items uploaded to that gallery within the last 24 hours are available for viewing through the gallery.

In some embodiments, the venue CMS 2048 encourages the administrator to define different catch intervals for different geographic regions (eg, venues as defined by the curation interface 1229 in FIG. 13B). allow Thus, for example, some areas having high activity levels and/or freshness of activity deemed particularly important by an administrator may be assigned a reduced catch interval compared to the default catch interval. In one example, Times Square is assigned a catch interval of 4 hours as opposed to the default 24 hour catch interval.

Alternatively, or in addition, some regions may be assigned an increased catch interval compared to the default catch interval. In some embodiments these increased catch intervals are defined on an ad hoc basis based on the occurrence of specific events associated with specific geographic areas. For example, an administrator can define a geographic area where a hurricane has landed and assign that area an increased catch interval of 48 hours as opposed to a default catch interval of 24 hours.

In some embodiments, the geographic variation of the catch interval can be determined by, for example, replay availability of respective social media items via place stories, spike stories, and/or location-based searches related to a defined geographic area. applies exclusively to In such cases, activity level and/or other social media activity data such as a heat map generated based on anomaly or singularity metric values are not affected by the administrative definition of different catch intervals for different geographic regions. Thus, for example, the variable size of the spike icon 633 may, in some embodiments, be dependent on the anomaly value calculated for the associated region based on the default catch interval, even if the associated region has a non-default assigned catch interval. is determined by

In other embodiments, variations in catch intervals apply universally to both the accessibility of individual social media items and to other information and content displayed on the map GUI 612 as described elsewhere herein. do. In such cases, for example, the variable size of the spike icon 633 is determined by the anomaly value calculated for the associated region based on the non-default assigned catch interval.

Referring now to FIG. 15, illustrated is an exemplary method 1500 that enables the creation of a map-based graphical user interface for a social media platform for short-term content, allowing for variation of catch intervals by geographic location.. The example method 1500 is described again with reference to the example map GUI 612 discussed above.

In operation 1517, the administrator assigns different respective catch intervals to different geographic regions, using an embodiment of the curation interface 1229 with catch-assignment functionality, so that at least two different Geographic regions have different respective catch intervals. For the purposes of this description, consider that a particular defined location (ie, the Empire State Building, where location icon 631 is shown in FIG. 6A) is assigned a catch interval of 4 hours as opposed to the default 12 hour catch interval..

In operation 1524, a request for replay of snaps to a target area is received from the client device 102. In one case, this includes the user selecting a location icon 631 for the Empire State Building. In other cases, such a request may include a location-based search via the search bar 665 or by a tap-triggered search at a target location close to the Empire State Building.

At operation 1531, each set of snaps originating in the location (ie, from within the defined boundaries of the location) is constrained based on the corresponding catch interval. In particular, the result set contains only those snaps whose timestamp is not older than the corresponding catch interval. Typically, the constraint of the result set occurs prior to receiving the request. For example, the set of snaps that together form a place story for the Empire State Building is continuously filtered to exclude any snaps that fall outside its 4-hour catch interval.

In response to the request, in operation 1538 the map engine 2008 serves the result set to the client device 102. It is therefore noted that result sets of different age ranges will be returned for different regions within the same map view. For example, no returned snaps originating from the Empire State Building would have been posted more than 4 hours ago, and a location-based search in an adjacent area may return snaps older than 12 hours.

These mechanisms advantageously allow manageable snap collection sizes for regions of different snap densities, thus reducing the computational and communication load on the various elements of the server system 108.

In this way, different catch intervals may be assigned to different geographic areas. These assignments may be permanent, semi-permanent, or ad hoc. In the described exemplary embodiment, the catch interval assignment is performed manually by an administrator. However, in some embodiments, catch interval assignment may be automated, at least in part, based on identification of candidates for catch interval variation based on predefined social media activity metrics. In one embodiment, the venue CMS 2048 is configured for defined venues whose respective snap frequency exceeds a threshold for more than a threshold number of days within a predefined time window. It is automatically configured to assign modified catch intervals (or to surface the list of suggestions in curation interface 1229).

The foregoing aspect of the present disclosure includes various illustrative embodiments, listed below as Examples 21-31, which examples should be read in light of at least the foregoing portion of the description.

<i><u>Automated quality estimation and curation of social media content</u></i>

Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to collaborative social media collections (eg, Live or Provides automated curation of commonly accessible short-lived galleries, such as social media items posted to Our Story. Thus, for example, in some demonstrative embodiments the platform server system 108 for a social media platform previously described may generate a quality estimate for respective geo-tagged social media items posted to Our Story. and a quality evaluation system 2054 that calculates. A quality filter is then applied based at least in part on the quality estimate, such that at least some user-provided social media items are automatically excluded from availability via the map GUI 612. In one exemplary embodiment, any social media item with an automatically calculated quality score lower than a predefined threshold is excluded from location-based search results via the map GUI 612 or added to any place story. included is excluded.

16 illustrates an example method 1600 for automated curation of social media content based at least in part on an automated quality estimate for respective social media items (in this example embodiment, snaps). do. At operation 1609, the snaps of the target set are retrieved for automated evaluation. In some embodiments the target set of snaps may be all snaps uploaded to the platform within a particular preceding time window, a collection of snaps associated with a place or event to provide a corresponding story, or any other suitable set of snaps. have.

At operation 1627, a quality estimate or quality score is automatically determined for each snap. In this exemplary embodiment, the quality score determination is performed by a trained neural network. Accordingly, the method 1600 includes previous operations of training the neural network by labeling the set of training snaps with quality values, at operation 1618, and supplying it with a set of labeled training snaps, at operation 1636.

At operation 1645, the original set of snaps is filtered based on respective quality scores for the individual snaps. For example, snaps with a below-threshold quality score may be assigned a decline acceptability status in some embodiments, such that they may be automatically excluded from the original set. have. At operation 1654, the filtered subset of snaps is made available for public access via the social media platform's map GUI 612.

Thus, in some embodiments, the automated quality estimate may include, for example, example social media items (eg, having various quality measures) that are associated with respective attributes or signals at operation 1618. It will be appreciated that this is performed using machine learning techniques, including training of a deep neural network with snaps). Based on training the model in this way, the AI engine (see, eg, FIGS. 17A-17D) then performs an automated quality assessment of the new social media items submitted. For ease of explanation, automated quality assessment is further described with reference to snaps, however, it should be understood that the described techniques apply similarly or similarly to other social media items, such as images and augmented messages.

In some demonstrative embodiments, this quality assessment is based, at least in part, on visual media content (eg, photo or video content) and/or audio data of the relevant snaps. In this example embodiment, a machine learning model is trained on a labeled data set generated using the labeling policy illustrated by the example labeling flow diagram 1800 of FIGS. 18A-18C. As can be seen with reference to the labeling flow diagram 1800, each snap in the training data set is evaluated and assigned a quality label by a human operator based on the content of the respective snap. In this exemplary embodiment, the quality levels are binary numbers identified as good or bad based on the decision flow diagram 1800.

The score from the trained machine learning model thus creates a score for the content of new snaps based on the trained model. 17A schematically depicts an exemplary embodiment of such a scheme. During training, the visual media content 1707 for each snap (additionally, simply content 1707, which may include audio content in some embodiments) has an associated label 1714 for training the AI engine 1721.) is supplied. In the evaluation, a content quality score (CQS) is generated by the AI engine 1721 for the content 1707 of each snap submitted. In this exemplary embodiment, the quality assessment and filtering is based exclusively on the content quality score, so the quality score (QS) can be considered equal to the content quality score in this case.

Instead, or additionally, in some embodiments at least some signals on which the automated quality assessment is based include metadata associated with the respective snaps. Accordingly, some embodiments provide for including device and/or application metadata associated with the respective snaps, using this information (among other signals) when training the model to derive a quality score for the snaps.) is intended to be used as a signal. For example, highly shaky videos (as may in some cases be indicated by metadata derived from device accelerometers during image-capture) may in some cases be excluded from the map GUI 612.

In one exemplary embodiment a non-exhaustive list of metadata fields included by a client-side instance of a social media application, at least some of which is obtained from a device operating system, such as Android or iOS clients, includes: do:

- The number of times the camera switches from back-facing to front-facing while taking a snap.

- Shake of video recording. In some embodiments, this may be indicated by device accelerometer readings.

- The speed of movement of the device during the snap capture.

- Elevation of the device during snap capture.

- Whether the user is an official account or collaborator.

- Whether the device's flashlight was used during video recording.

- Device camera quality, for example determined with reference to the device model.

- Whether the user is a tourist or a local with respect to the location of the snap indicated by the geo-tag information. For these purposes, historical geographic information associated with the device may be compared to the geographic location of the associated social media item to identify whether the user was moving when the snap was captured.

- The nature of the Internet connection, eg whether WiFi and WWAN are used.

In some embodiments, in addition to these metadata fields, a content quality score from a machine learning model trained on a manually labeled data set is generated with each respective uploaded snap as an additional metadata field. related Thus, in some embodiments, the estimated content quality store is one of the additional metadata fields derived from the application information or from the device information (as listed above) to compute a quality score on which the quality estimation and filtering is based. Note that it is used in combination with one or more.

In some embodiments, this quality estimation is performed by a trained machine learning model. 17B schematically depicts one such exemplary embodiment. During training, the AI engine 1729 is trained by feeding it snap metadata 1726 along with associated content quality scores (eg, as determined by the AI engine 1721). Note that for ease of explanation AI engines 1721 and 1729 are described as separate entities, and in other embodiments may be separate neural networks provided by a common AI engine.

During evaluation (FIG. 17B), a content quality score is determined by the AI engine 1721 for the content 1707 of each snap. The AI engine 1729 then determines a respective quality score for the snap based on the content quality score and associated metadata 1726.

Instead, as schematically illustrated by the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 17C, the content quality score may be used in conjunction with at least some of the other described metadata fields to algorithmically compute a quality estimate. Accordingly, in the evaluation, the content quality score is determined as before by the AI engine 1721, and the result is fed to a deterministic or algorithmic analyzer 1736 which forms part of the quality evaluation system 2054. In some embodiments, the analyzer 1736 outputs a quality score as before. In other cases, a binary tolerability value (ie, inclusion or exclusion) output may be provided.

In still other embodiments, such as the example embodiment of FIG. 17D, a labeling flow diagram similar to the example of FIGS. 18A and 18B is one based at least in part on metadata fields based on user device sensor data and/or information. It may include more than one decision point. The data flows for this scheme in training and evaluation are apparent from FIG. 17d.

In some embodiments, filtered snaps are excluded from all aspects of the map GUI 612, for example, from social media activity/anomaly calculations and heat map rendering, as well as any publicly available Not available as part of a short-lived gallery, place story, or location-based search. In other embodiments, snaps filtered from online availability due to sub-threshold quality scores are reflected in the heat map or other activity calculations, but are not available for viewing via the map GUI 612.

As noted above, this metadata is stored in a server-side database associated with the respective snaps and used to filter out bad snaps from the map GUI 612. Note that the collected database is protected and kept private to ensure user confidentiality.

In some embodiments auto-estimation and filtering features apply only to snaps posted or posted for general availability (eg, submissions to "Our Story"), and this quality filtering is applied to the user's "My Story" Note that this does not apply to submissions for ". In this context, the term "general availability" means that it is only available to users who have a defined relationship with the posting user (eg, posted to My Story and available for viewing only to a specific user's friends). In contrast to), it means that each social media item is posted to a social media platform for general public access (eg, posted to Our Story).

The foregoing aspects of the present disclosure include various illustrative embodiments listed below as Examples 32-45, which examples should be read in light of at least part of the foregoing description.

<i><u>location-based memories</u></i>

In addition to providing access to short-term social media content during a limited availability interval, the map GUI 612 in some demonstrative embodiments provides location-based access to the user's own expired social media content. In this context, short term social media content refers to social media items that become available on the relevant social media platform only for a limited period of time (i.e. their availability interval or lifetime), after which they are inaccessible for others to view online.. Thus, for example, the default availability interval for snaps on some existing social media platforms is 24 hours. After the expiration of the availability interval, the short-lived social media items are no longer accessible to others through the social media platform and are referred to herein as expired social media items or expired snaps.

However, the user may want to view social media items that he has uploaded even after the expiration of the availability interval. To this end, in some embodiments, a map GUI 612 as described herein provides location-based user access to its own expired snaps. This functionality is also referred to herein as memories.

In one embodiment, the map GUI 612 allows the user to switch to a history (also known as Memories mode) and then explore its own expired snaps by the map GUI 612 by geography.) and/or to retrieve its own expired snaps by geographic constraint. In some embodiments, the map GUI 612 in memory mode may provide a user specification of a search period, thus allowing the user to search for expired snaps posted on a specified date or specified date range..

In some embodiments, a blanket search may be launched for the geographic area currently shown in map viewport 621, the result of the search finding geo-tag information corresponding to current map viewport 621. It is limited to expired snaps with Alternatively, or additionally, a location-based search for expired snaps (either universally or for a specified limited time period) may be performed at a selected location, similar to the location-based search for live snaps described above. It can be launched by clicking or tapping the map GUI 612.

Accordingly, some embodiments provide substantially equivalent search functionality for a user's own expired snaps as provided by all users for searching for non-expired snaps (ie, live short-term content). Additionally, in some embodiments the map GUI 612 provides a display of social media activity information for the user's own historical snap activity as provided for live content (eg, see operation 1970 in FIG. 19). Reference).

19 illustrates an example method 1900 of providing a map-based graphical user interface that enables location-based access to a requesting user's expired short-term content. These functionalities are further described with reference to the exemplary embodiment of the map GUI 612 discussed above in connection with other aspects of the present disclosure.

At operation 1910, the map GUI 612 operates in a normal mode, in which it is uploaded (eg, for general availability) by all users for general availability, using various mechanisms previously described in operation 1930. For example, it provides access to live snaps (posted to Our Story).

However, in operation 1920, the user may switch the map GUI 612 to a history mode. In some embodiments, the map GUI 612 includes a toggle that can be operated to switch back and forth between normal mode and memory mode. Alternatively, or additionally, searching in memory mode may include launching a memory search interface and/or text box.

In memory mode, the user may navigate to his own expired snaps via map 618 of map GUI 612, in operation 1950. This may include navigating to the region of interest, and triggering a location-based search by tapping at the target location, in operation 1960. In response, a location-based search similar to that described with reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B is performed, and the result set is limited to expired snaps of the requesting user. At operation 1970, the returned result set is reproduced on the requesting client device 102.

Instead, the user may enter a search string, in operation 1960, and in response, in operation 1970, search results are returned. In some embodiments, the result set for this search is limited to expired snaps with geo-tag information in the current map viewport 621.

During navigation through the map, at operation 1950, map GUI 612 also provides a display of geographically dispersed historical activity information for users for snap history in some embodiments. For example, in some embodiments map 618 includes a heat map 625 indicating a geographic distribution of users' snap density of expired snaps (ie, number of snaps per unit area). Alternatively, or in addition, expired stories and/or ad hoc stories based on expired snaps may be surfaced on map 618 in memory mode.

An advantage of location-based memory functionality is that it provides users with the ability to investigate their historical media activity more intuitively and accurately than otherwise. Thus, for example, when a user wants to view a particular snap posted from a known location (eg, a concert or sporting event), it navigates to a relevant location on the map GUI 612 and location-based memory for that location. You can find the target snap more easily by launching a search. Without such a location-targeted historical search, the user would require more information about the exact date and/or other tag information to precisely target the desired snap.

The foregoing aspect of the present disclosure includes various illustrative embodiments listed below as Examples 46-57, which examples should be read in light of at least part of the foregoing description.

Exemplary system

20 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a social media platform system 2000 configured to provide a map-based graphical user interface for a social media application, such as the map GUI 612 described with reference to FIGS. 6A-11B.. In some embodiments, system 2000 and its associated components may be provided server-side, for example, by social media application server system 108 (FIG. 1). In such cases, respective components of system 2000 may be provided by execution of social media server application 114 on application server 112. In other embodiments, one or more components of system 2000 are provided on the client side, for example, by execution of social media client application 104 on respective client device 102 (FIG. 1). In still other embodiments, system 2000 is collaboratively provided on server-side and client-side, wherein application server 112 and client device 102 in communication with it provide a social media client application on client device 102. and provide the respective system components by execution of 104 and by execution of social media server application 114 on application server 112.

The system 2000 includes a map engine 2008 for generating a map GUI 612 that includes location-based social media information displayed in the map GUI 612. Accordingly, map engine 2008 is configured to generate or facilitate creation of map 618 (FIG. 6A) in map viewport 621 of client device 102. To this end, the map engine 2008 surfaces certain story icons 631, 633 to cause its display, identifies the respective friend bitmojis 640 to cause its display, and displays the heat map information. generate and display or cause display of a heat map 625 overlaid on the map 618, and perform operations that provide other related functionalities of the map GUI 612 described with reference to FIGS. 6A-11B. can be

The system 2000 further includes a replay mechanism 2016 configured to cause an automated sequential replay of the content of the set of social media items or snaps on the client device 102. Thus, the replay mechanism 2016 may result in sequential display of all snaps within the selected place story or spike story as previously described herein. In some embodiments, the replay mechanism 2016 may provide for sending a set of snaps to the client device 102 in response to selection of the corresponding story icon 631/633. In some such embodiments, information automatically transmitted by application server 112 to client device 102 upon initial rendering of a map view in map GUI 612 is a story icon surfaced in map viewport 621. may include the first few (eg, two or three) snaps for each of s 631, 633. Upon selection of a particular story icon 631 / 633, the first few snaps in the story are immediately available for replay, and subsequent snaps in the story are applied to the application server 112 during presentation of the first few snaps.) is pulled from

System 2000 also includes a content management system (CMS) 2024 that enables server-side management functionalities. CMS 2024 provides a management interface that allows operators to manage content, for example, by defining various attributes of different venues and/or event stories. In this exemplary embodiment, the CMS 2024 also includes a collection management system 204 (FIG. 2) as previously described. CMS 2024 is configured for automated or semi-automated compilation of respective social media galleries or stories as previously described. This may include curation or moderation of the respective stories by use of a server-side curation interface provided by CMS 2024.

System 2000 further includes a search engine 2033 configured to provide search functionalities for social media content via map GUI 612. In particular, in this exemplary embodiment, the search engine 2033 provides a location-by-direct selection of the target location on the search interface 1010 (FIGS. 10A-10D) and the map 618 (FIGS. 11A-11B)- It provides user-directed searching through both based search.

System 2000 determines respective user locations, represented by respective device locations in this example embodiment, and determines, for each user, specific friend users viewable through map GUI 612. and a user location serving mechanism 2037 configured to provide respective user location information for display of associated user icons at corresponding display locations. In some embodiments, the user location serving mechanism 2037, as part of the server system 108, is a user location datastore and a per-user access control list (ACL) that enumerates specific friend users that each user can see. includes In some embodiments, the per-user ACL specifies a respective viewing level granularity for each viewable user. In these example embodiments, the user location serving mechanism 2037 is further configured to determine and manage the respective user display granularity. This includes calculating non-precision display positions for some users and causing display of corresponding user icons at the non-precision display positions.

System 2000 also includes an analyzer 2050 configured to process social media activity data to calculate anomalous metric values for different regions served by map GUI 612. In some embodiments, the analyzer 2050 uses the probabilistic rendering of individual snaps to generate a historical model of the geospatial distribution of social media activity. Activity data from the current or approximate live time window is mapped to the historical model, and respective anomaly scores are calculated for different respective locations in the map. These anomaly scores may be used by map engine 2008 to surface content, determine the size of spike icons 633, and rendering of heat map information, and the like.

Machine and software architecture

Such systems, system components, methods, applications, etc. described in connection with FIGS. 1-20 are, in some embodiments, implemented in the context of a machine and associated software architecture. The following sections describe representative software architecture(s) and machine (eg, hardware) architecture(s) suitable for use with the disclosed embodiments.

Software architectures are used in conjunction with hardware architectures to create devices and machines that are configured for specific purposes. For example, a specific hardware architecture combined with a specific software architecture will create mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablet devices, and the like. Slightly different hardware and software architectures may yield smart devices for use in the “internet of things,” while another combination creates server computers for use within cloud computing architectures. The software and hardware architectures presented herein are exemplary architectures for implementing the present disclosure and are not exhaustive of possible architectures that may be used to implement the present disclosure.

Summary of Selected Exemplary Embodiments

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that a number of exemplary embodiments and combinations of exemplary embodiments are disclosed. The disclosed embodiments include, but are not limited to, the enumerated list of exemplary embodiments that follow.

Example 1: A method comprising:

assigning, in a server system for a social media platform, an availability parameter to a defined geographic area, the assigned availability parameter being a default availability parameter associated by default with a plurality of geographic areas managed by the server system different from -;

causing creation of a map-based graphical user interface (GUI) on a user device, the map-based GUI having an interactive map providing access to geo-tagged social media items; each geo-tagged social media item has an associated geographic location; and

based at least in part on the assigned availability parameter, such that the availability of each social media item having an associated geographic location corresponding to the defined geographic area is automatically limited based on the assigned availability parameter; making available for viewing via the map-based GUI social media content uploaded to a social media platform;

How to include.

Example 2: The method of claim 1, wherein making the social media content available comprises filtering the social media content to exclude each social media item having a geographic location corresponding to the defined geographic area. Including method.

Example 3: The method of claim 2, wherein the filtering comprises: for each of a plurality of social media items comprising the social media content:

identifying the geographic location of the social media item based on geo-tagging information associated therewith;

identifying a specific defined geographic area from among a plurality of defined geographic areas to which the identified geographic location belongs;

identifying a respective availability parameter associated with the identified defined geographic area; and

determining an availability status of the social media item based on the identified availability parameter.

Example 4: The map-based of any of clauses 1-3, wherein the assigned availability parameter indicates that any social media item having a geographic location within the defined geographic area is for all users. A method for indicating an exclusion from availability, such that it is excluded from availability through the GUI.

Example 5: The availability via the map-based GUI of any of clauses 1-3, wherein the assigned availability parameter is the availability of each social media item having a geographic location within the defined geographic area. indicating a conditional exclusion based on the one or more user attributes, such that the conditional exclusion is variable according to one or more attributes of a user associated with the user device.

Example 6: The method of claim 5, wherein the availability parameter indicates an age limit value.

Example 7: The method of claim 6, wherein making the social media content available comprises: for each social media item having a geographic location within the defined geographic area:

determining an age value of the user associated with the user device; and

making the social media item accessible through the map-based GUI provided that the age value of the user is greater than a threshold age indicated by the age restriction value associated with the defined geographic area; Way.

Example 8: according to any one of items 1 to 7,

further comprising, in the server system, providing a curation interface enabling management of a plurality of defined geographic areas, wherein assigning the availability parameter to the defined geographic area comprises configuring the curation interface. and responding to optional user input by a human operator via

Example 9: The method of claim 8, further comprising enabling definition of the geographic area by the human operator via the curation interface.

Example 10: The assignment of any of clauses 1-9, wherein the assignment of the availability parameter is automated based at least in part on user reports received for social media items originating from the defined geographic area. A method performed in a prescribed procedure.

Example 11: A system comprising:

one or more computer processor devices; and

one or more memories storing machine readable instructions

Including,

The instructions, when executed,

assigning, in a server system for a social media platform, an availability parameter to a defined geographic area, the assigned availability parameter being a default availability parameter associated by default with a plurality of geographic areas managed by the server system different from -;

an action that results in the creation of a map-based graphical user interface (GUI) on a user device, the map-based GUI having an interactive map that provides access to geo-tagged social media items; each geo-tagged social media item has an associated geographic location; and

based at least in part on the assigned availability parameter, such that the availability of each social media item having an associated geographic location corresponding to the defined geographic area is limited based on the assigned availability parameter; Making social media content uploaded to a platform available for viewing via the map-based GUI

and configuring the one or more computer processor devices to perform operations comprising:

Example 12: The method of clause 11, wherein making the social media content available comprises filtering the social media content to exclude each social media item having a geographic location corresponding to the defined geographic area. including, the system.

Example 13: The instructions of clause 12, wherein for each of a plurality of social media items comprising the social media content:

identifying the geographic location of the social media item based on geo-tagging information associated therewith;

identifying a specific defined geographic area from among a plurality of defined geographic areas to which the identified geographic location belongs;

identifying a respective availability parameter associated with the identified defined geographic area; and

determining an availability status of the social media item based on the identified availability parameter

and configuring the one or more computer processor devices to filter the social media content in a process comprising:

Example 14: The map-based of any of clauses 11-13, wherein the assigned availability parameter indicates that any social media item having a geographic location within the defined geographic area is map-based for all users. A system that marks an exclusion from availability, such that it is excluded from availability through the GUI.

Example 15: The map-based GUI of any of clauses 11-13, wherein the assigned availability parameter is the availability via the map-based GUI of each social media item having a geographic location within the defined geographic area. indicating a conditional exclusion based on the one or more user attributes, such that the conditional exclusion is variable according to one or more attributes of a user associated with the user device.

Example 16: The system of claim 15, wherein the availability parameter indicates an age limit value.

Example 17: The instructions of clause 16, wherein for each social media item having a geographic location within the defined geographic area:

determining an age value of the user associated with the user device; and

making the social media item accessible through the map-based GUI provided that the age value of the user is greater than a threshold age indicated by the age restriction value associated with the defined geographic area.

and configuring the one or more computer processor devices to make the social media content available in a process comprising:

Example 18: The instructions of any of clauses 11-17, wherein the instructions include:

Further configuring, in the server system, the one or more computer processor devices to provide a curation interface enabling management of a plurality of defined geographic areas, and assigning the availability parameter to the defined geographic areas comprises: responsive to optional user input by a human operator through the curation interface.

Example 19: The instructions of any of clauses 11-18, wherein the instructions are configured to be at least in part in user reports received for social media items for which the assignment of the availability parameter originates from the defined geographic area. and configuring the one or more computer processor devices to be performed in an automated procedure based on

Example 20: A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, comprising:

The instructions cause the machine to, when executing the instructions,

assigning, in a server system for a social media platform, an availability parameter to a defined geographic area, the assigned availability parameter being a default availability parameter associated by default with a plurality of geographic areas managed by the server system different from -;

an action that results in the creation of a map-based graphical user interface (GUI) on a user device, the map-based GUI having an interactive map that provides access to geo-tagged social media items; each geo-tagged social media item has an associated geographic location; and

based at least in part on the assigned availability parameter, such that the availability of each social media item having an associated geographic location corresponding to the defined geographic area is automatically limited based on the assigned availability parameter; Making social media content uploaded to a social media platform available for viewing via the map-based GUI.

A computer-readable storage medium for performing operations comprising:

Example 21: A method comprising:

In a server system for a social media platform, the method comprising: defining a plurality of geographic regions;

associating a respective catch interval with each of the plurality of geographic areas such that at least two different geographic areas have different respective catch intervals; and

making a set of short-lived social media items available for user access through the social media platform;

Including,

Each short-term social media item is:

respective geo-tag information indicating a corresponding geographic location; and

their own timestamp

, wherein the age value of the short-term social media item is indicated by the time elapsed since the corresponding timestamp;

The set of short-term social media items is limited to items whose respective age value is less than an applicable catch interval, wherein the applicable catch interval is, for each item, corresponding to the respective geographic location of the item. a catch interval of the one of the plurality of geographic areas.

Example 22: The method of claim 21,

assigning default catch intervals to geographic regions by default; and

assigning a modified catch interval to a particular geographic area, wherein the modified catch interval is different from the default catch interval.

Example 23: The method of claim 22,

enabling creation of a map-based graphical user interface (GUI) for the social media platform on a user device, the map-based GUI having an interactive map, and social media geo-tagged via the interactive map. content is accessible on the user device;

receiving, via the map-based GUI, a user request to access social media items associated with the particular geographic area; and

in response to the user request, causing display of a plurality of social media items selected from the set of short-lived social media items, in association with the particular geographic area of the interactive map;

further comprising,

The plurality of social media items,

having a geotag-indicated geographic location that falls within the particular geographic area;

having an age value less than the modified catch interval

A method, limited to items.

Example 24: The method of clause 23, wherein the modified catch interval is longer than the default catch interval.

Example 25: The method of clause 23, wherein the modified catch interval is shorter than the default catch interval.

Example 26: The method of any one of clauses 23-25,

causing display in the map of social media activity information indicative of basic social media activity metrics for the particular geographic area;

and the social media items on which the base social media activity metric is based are limited to items with respective age values less than the modified catch interval.

Example 27: The method of any one of clauses 23-25,

causing display in the map of social media activity information indicative of a basic social media activity metric for the particular geographic area;

The method further comprises calculating the basic social media activity metric similarly for different geographic regions, regardless of differences between respective catch intervals.

Example 28: The method of any of clauses 23-27, wherein the assignment of the modified catch interval is by operator input received via a curation interface created by the server system.

Example 29: The assignment of the modified catch interval of any of clauses 23-27, wherein the assignment of the modified catch interval is based on automated identification of candidates for catch interval variation based on predefined social media activity metrics. A method comprising an at least partially automated procedure.

Example 30: A system comprising:

one or more computer processor devices; and

30. One or more memories storing computer readable instructions that, upon executing the instructions, configure the one or more computer processor devices to perform operations comprising the method of any one of claims 21-29.

Containing, the system.

Example 31: A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that cause a machine, when executing the instructions, to perform operations comprising the method of any one of claims 21-29.

Example 32: A method comprising:

accessing a number of social media items posted to a social media platform for general availability through the social media platform, each social media item including visual media content;

generating a respective quality estimate for each of the plurality of social media items in an automated procedure performed using a quality evaluation system comprising one or more computer processor devices configured to perform the automated procedure; and

making a subset of the plurality of social media items available for viewing online on the social media platform by respective user devices, one or more of the plurality of social media items based on respective quality estimates to be excluded from a subset of the items by -

Containing, method.

Example 33: The method of claim 32,

In an automated operation performed using one or more computer devices configured to perform an automated procedure, for each of the plurality of social media items, a respective acceptability status based at least in part on a corresponding quality estimate. status); and

and excluding the one or more social media items from availability through a social media platform based on their respective acceptability statuses.

Example 34: The method of clauses 32 or 33, wherein the subset of social media items is formed by excluding each of the plurality of social media items from availability that has a respective quality estimate lower than a predefined threshold. A method, further comprising a step.

Example 35: The method of any of paragraphs 32-34, wherein, for each social media item, generating the corresponding quality estimate generates a content quality score for the visual media content of the social media item. based at least in part on

Example 36: The method of claim 35, wherein the generation of the content quality scores is performed using a trained artificial neural network.

Example 37: The method of 36, further comprising: a pre-operation of training the neural network by supplying training data relating to a plurality of historical social media items to the artificial neural network; wherein the training data includes corresponding visual media content with an associated quality label.

Example 38: The method of clause 37, wherein the quality labels are binary, indicating the visual media content of each respective historical social media item as acceptable or unacceptable.

Example 39: The metadata of any of paragraphs 32-38, wherein the generation of the quality estimate comprises captured metadata for one or more device attributes of a user device from which the visual media content of the respective social media item was captured. based at least in part on the method.

Example 40: The method of claim 39, wherein the one or more device properties include metadata indicating which camera of the user device captured the corresponding visual media content.

Example 41: The method of clauses 39 or 40, wherein the one or more device attributes include movement data indicative of a movement speed of the user device during image-capture.

Example 42: The method of any of clauses 39-41, wherein the one or more device properties include elevation data indicative of device elevation during image-capture.

Example 43: The method of any of clauses 39-42, wherein the one or more device attributes include image shakiness indicated by accelerometer data of the user device during image-capture.

Example 44: A system comprising:

one or more computer processor devices; and

44. One or more memory devices storing instructions that, when executing instructions, configure the one or more computer processor devices to perform operations comprising the method of any one of claims 32-43.

A system comprising a.

Example 45: A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising the method of any one of claims 32-43.

Example 46: A method comprising:

causing display of a map-based graphical user interface (GUI) for a social media platform on a user device associated with a particular user, the map-based GUI comprising enabling user navigation to display a target geographic area -; and

providing access via an interactive map to geotagged historical social media content previously uploaded by the particular user;

Containing, method.

Example 47: The method of 46, wherein the historical social media content includes expired short-term social media items.

Example 48: The map-based GUI of clause 46 or 47, wherein the map-based GUI comprises:

a default mode in which the map-based GUI provides access to social media content uploaded by a number of other users; and

wherein the map-based GUI is selectively switchable between historical modes that provide exclusive access to the geotagged historical social media content previously uploaded by the particular user.

Example 49: The method of any one of items 46-49,

receiving, via the map-based GUI, a search query for historical social media content posted by the particular user, the search query including a geographic constraint; and

identifying, based on the search query, a result set comprising a plurality of social media items previously uploaded by the particular user and having associated geotag data that satisfies the geographic constraint; and

causing display of the identified result set on the user device.

Example 50: The method of 49, wherein the geographic constraint comprises that geo-tag information of social media items included in the result set falls within a specified geographic area.

Example 51: The method of 50, wherein the specified geographic area corresponds to an area displayed in a map viewport of the map-based GUI.

Example 52: The method of 50, wherein the specified geographic area is defined based on a target location indicated by a user interaction with the interactive map.

Example 53: The map-based GUI of any of clauses 46-52 of geographically dispersed social media activity information for the geotagged historical social media content previously uploaded by the particular user. causing display on the map of

Example 54: The method of 53, wherein the geographically dispersed social media activity information comprises a heat map indicating a geographic distribution of an activity metric for the historical social media content of the particular user.

Example 55: The method of 54, wherein the activity metric is based at least in part on a density metric of the historical geotagged social media content of the particular user.

Example 56: A system comprising:

one or more computer processor devices;

One or more memory devices storing instructions that, when executing instructions, configure the one or more computer processor devices to perform operations comprising the method of any one of claims 46-55.

Containing, the system.

Example 57: A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising the method of any one of claims 46-55.

Software architecture

21 is a block diagram illustrating an example software architecture 2106 that may be used with the various hardware architectures described herein. 21 is a non-limiting example of a software architecture, and it will be appreciated that many other architectures may be implemented to facilitate the functionality described herein. Software architecture 2106 may run on hardware, such as machine 2200 of FIG. 22, including processors 2204, memory 2214, and I/O components 2218, among others. A representative hardware layer 2152 is illustrated and may represent, for example, the machine 2200 of FIG. 22. Representative hardware layer 2152 includes processing unit 2154 having associated executable instructions 2104. Executable instructions 2104 represent executable instructions of software architecture 2106, including implementations of methods, components, etc. described herein. Hardware layer 2152 also includes memory/storage 2156, which are memory and/or storage modules, which also have executable instructions 2104. Hardware layer 2152 may also include other hardware 2158.

In the example architecture of FIG. 21, the software architecture 2106 may be conceptualized as a stack of layers, each layer providing a specific functionality. For example, software architecture 2106 may include layers such as operating system 2102, libraries 2120, frameworks/middleware 2118, applications 2116, and presentation layer 2114. have. Operationally, applications 2116 and/or other components within the layers may invoke application programming interface (API) calls 2108 through the software stack and receive a response in the form of messages 2108. have. The illustrated layers are representative in nature and not all software architectures have all layers. For example, some mobile or special purpose operating systems may not provide frameworks/middleware 2118, while others may provide such a layer. Other software architectures may include additional or different layers.

The operating system 2102 may manage hardware resources and provide common services. Operating system 2102 may include, for example, a kernel 2122, services 2124, and drivers 2126. The kernel 2122 may serve as an abstraction layer between hardware and other software layers. For example, the kernel 2122 may be in charge of memory management, processor management (eg, scheduling), component management, networking, security setting, and the like. Services 2124 may provide other common services for different software layers. Drivers 2126 are responsible for controlling or interfacing with underlying hardware. For example, the drivers 2126 may include a display driver, a camera driver, a Bluetooth® driver, a flash memory driver, a serial communication driver (eg, Universal Serial Bus (USB) driver), a Wi-Fi® driver, depending on the hardware configuration., audio drivers, power management drivers, etc.

Libraries 2120 provide a common infrastructure used by applications 2116 and/or other components and/or layers. Libraries 2120 are easier than other software components to directly interface with underlying operating system 2102 functionality (eg, kernel 2122, services 2124, and/or drivers 2126). It provides functionality that allows you to perform tasks in a way that Libraries 2120 may include system libraries 2144 (eg, the C standard library) that may provide functions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions, math functions, and the like. In addition, libraries 2120 include media libraries (eg, libraries that support presentation and manipulation of various media formats such as MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphic libraries, and (e.g., an OpenGL framework that can be used to render 2D and 3D from graphical content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite, which can provide various relational database functions), web libraries (e.g. For example, it may include API libraries 2146 such as WebKit) that may provide web browsing functionality. Libraries 2120 may also include a wide variety of other libraries 2148 that provide many other APIs to application 2116 and other software components/modules.

Frameworks/middleware 2118 provides a higher-level common infrastructure that can be used by applications 2116 and/or other software components/modules. For example, frameworks/middleware 2118 may provide various graphical user interface (GUI) functions, high-level resource management, high-level location services, and the like. Frameworks/middleware 2118 may provide a broad spectrum of other APIs that may be used by applications 2116 and/or other software components/modules, some of which may be used by a specific operating system 2102.) or platform-specific.

Applications 2116 include built-in applications 2138 and/or third-party applications 2140. Examples of representative built-in applications 2138 may include, but are not limited to, a contacts application, a browser application, a book reader application, a location application, a media application, a messaging application, or a gaming application. Third-party applications 2140 may include applications developed using ANDROID™ or IOS™ software development kits (SDKs) by entities other than the vendor of a particular platform, IOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or mobile software running on a mobile operating system, such as other mobile operating systems. Third party applications 2140 may invoke API calls 2108 provided by a mobile operating system (eg, operating system 2102) to facilitate the functionality described herein.

Applications 2116 use built-in operating system 2102 functions (eg, kernel 2122, services 2124, and/or drivers to create user interfaces for interacting with users of the system) 2126), libraries 2120, and frameworks/middleware 2118. Alternatively or additionally, in some systems, interactions with the user may occur through a presentation layer, such as presentation layer 2114. In such systems, the application/component "logic" may be separated from the aspects of the application/component interacting with the user.

hardware architecture

22 is capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium (eg, a machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments; A block diagram illustrating the components of machine 2200. Specifically, FIG. 22 illustrates instructions 2210 (eg, software, program, application, applet, app, or shows a schematic diagram of a machine 2200 in an exemplary form of a computer system in which other executable code) may be executed. As such, the instructions 2210 may be used to implement the modules or components described herein. The instructions 2210 transform a generic non-programmed machine 2200 into a specific machine 2200 programmed to perform the described and illustrated functions in the described manner. In alternative embodiments, machine 2200 may operate as a standalone device or may be coupled (eg, networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, machine 2200 may operate in the capacity of a server machine or client machine in a server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine 2200 may be a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, a cellular phone, a smartphone, By mobile device, wearable device (eg, smart watch), smart home device (eg, smart appliance), other smart devices, web appliance, network router, network switch, network bridge, or machine 2200 It may include, but is not limited to, any machine capable of executing instructions 2210, sequentially or otherwise, specifying actions to be taken. Moreover, although only a single machine 2200 is illustrated, the term “machine” is also used to refer to machines individually or jointly executing instructions 2210 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. It should be considered as containing a collection.

Machine 2200 may include processors 2204, memory/storage 2206, and I/O components 2218, which may be configured to communicate with each other, such as via a bus 2202. Memory/storage 2206 may include memory 2214, such as main memory, or other memory storage, and storage unit 2216, both of which access processors 2204, such as via bus 2202. It is possible. The storage unit 2216 and the memory 2214 store instructions 2210 that implement any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. Instructions 2210 may also, during its execution by machine 2200, fully or partially, within memory 2214, within storage unit 2216, within at least one of processors 2204 (eg, in the cache memory of the processor), or any suitable combination thereof. Accordingly, the memory 2214, the storage unit 2216, and the memory of the processors 2204 are examples of machine-readable media. In some embodiments, processors 2204 include multiple distributed processors 2208 - 2212, each having access to associated memories that store instructions 2210.

I/O components 2218 may include a wide variety of components for receiving input, providing output, generating output, sending information, exchanging information, capturing measurements, and the like. can The particular I/O components 2218 included in a particular machine 2200 will depend on the type of machine. For example, a portable machine such as a mobile phone will likely include a touch input device or other such input mechanism, whereas a headless server machine will likely not include such a touch input device. It will be appreciated that I/O components 2218 may include many other components not shown in FIG. 22. I/O components 2218 are grouped according to functionality merely to simplify the discussion below, and this grouping is not limiting in any way. In various demonstrative embodiments, I/O components 2218 can include output components 2226 and input components 2228. Output components 2226 include visual components (eg, a plasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a display such as a cathode ray tube (CRT)), acoustic components (eg, a speaker), haptic components (eg, a vibrating motor, a resistance mechanism), other signal generators, and the like. Input components 2228 include alphanumeric input components (eg, a keyboard, a touchscreen configured to receive alphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumeric input component), point-based input components (eg,, mouse, touchpad, trackball, joystick, motion sensor, or other pointing devices), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides the location and/or force of a touch or touch gesture, or other tactile input component), audio input components (eg, a microphone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the I/O components 2218 may include, among a wide variety of other components, biometric components 2230, motion components 2234, environment components 2236, or position components (2238) may be included. For example, the biometric components 2230 detect expressions (eg, hand expressions, facial expressions, voice expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking) and biometric signals (eg, blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, sweat, or brain waves), identify a person (eg, voice identification, retina identification, face identification, fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram-based identification), and the like. can Motion components 2234 may include acceleration sensor components (eg, accelerometer), gravity sensor components, rotation sensor components (eg, gyroscope), and the like. Environment components 2236 include, for example, lighting sensor components (eg, a photometer), temperature sensor components (eg, one or more thermometers detecting ambient temperature), humidity sensor components, a pressure sensor components (eg, barometer), acoustic sensor components (eg, one or more microphones to detect background noise), proximity sensor components (eg, infrared sensors to detect nearby objects), gas sensor (eg, gas detection sensors that detect concentrations of hazardous gases or measure contaminants in the atmosphere for safety), or other capable of providing indications, measurements, or signals corresponding to the surrounding physical environment It may contain components. Position components 2238 include position sensor components (eg, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver component), altitude sensor components (eg, an altimeter or barometer that detects barometric pressure from which an altitude can be derived)., orientation sensor components (eg, magnetometer), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies. I/O components 2218 may include communication components 2240 operable to couple machine 2200 to network 2232 or devices 2220 via coupling 2222 and coupling 2224, respectively. can For example, communication component 2240 may include a network interface component, or other suitable device for interfacing with network 2232. In further examples, communication components 2240 include wired communication components, wireless communication components, cellular communication components, near field communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (eg, Bluetooth® low energy), Wi -Fi® components, and other communication components that provide communication via other aspects. Devices 2220 may be other machines or any of a wide variety of peripheral devices (eg, peripheral devices coupled via a universal serial bus (USB)).

Moreover, communication components 2240 may detect identifiers or may include components operable to detect identifiers. For example, the communication components 2240 may include radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components, optical reader components (eg, one-dimensional such as a Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode). optical sensor for detecting barcodes, multi-dimensional barcodes such as QR (Quick Response) code, Aztec code, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2D barcode, and other optical codes); or acoustic detection components (eg, microphones for identifying tagged audio signals). In addition, various information may be transmitted to the communication components 2240, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation, location via Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detection of an NFC beacon signal that may indicate a particular location, and the like. can be derived through

Glossary

“CARRIER SIGNAL” in this context refers to any intangible medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by a machine, digital or analog communication to facilitate communication of such instructions. signals or other intangible media. The instructions may be transmitted or received over a network using a transmission medium over a network interface device and using any one of a number of well known transmission protocols.

“CLIENT DEVICE” in this context refers to any machine that interfaces with a communications network to obtain resources from one or more server systems or other client devices. Client devices include mobile phones, desktop computers, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks, netbooks, laptops, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, game consoles, set tops. It may be, but is not limited to, a box, or any other communication device that a user may use to access the network.

"COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK" in this context means ad hoc network, intranet, extranet, virtual private network (VPN), local area network (LAN), wireless LAN (WLAN), wide area network (WAN), wireless WAN (WWAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), Internet, part of the Internet, part of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), plain old telephone service (POTS) networks, cellular telephone networks, wireless networks, Wi-Fi® networks, other types refers to one or more portions of a network, which may be a network of, or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, a network or portion of a network may include a wireless or cellular network, and the combination may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection, or other type of cellular or wireless combination. can In this example, combining is 1xRTT (Single Carrier Radio Transmission Technology), EVDO (Evolution-Data Optimized) technology, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) technology, EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) technology, 3GPP (third GPP) including 3G Generation Partnership Project), 4th generation wireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standards, various standards -such as others defined by the establishment body, other long-distance protocols, or other data-transmission technologies; Any of various types of data transfer techniques may be implemented.

"EMPHEMERAL MESSAGE" in this context refers to a message accessible for a time-limited duration. The short-term message may be text, image, video, or the like. The access time for short-term messages may be set by the sender of the message. Alternatively, the access time may be a default setting or a setting specified by the recipient. Regardless of the setup technique, messages are temporary. "Snaps" referenced in this description are short-lived messages. Short-term messages are not limited to communications with individual recipients specified, but include social media items uploaded to a gallery or collection for viewing by multiple users. Accordingly, the term short-term message includes a photo or video clip (which may or may not be augmented) that becomes available for a time-limited duration for public viewing.

“MACHINE-READABLE MEDIUM” in this context refers to a component, device, or other tangible medium capable of temporarily or permanently storing instructions and data, including random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory, optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types of storage (eg, erasable and programmable read only memory (EPROM)), and/or any suitable combination thereof may include, but is not limited thereto. The term "machine-readable medium" should be considered to include a single medium or multiple media (eg, a centralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers) that may store instructions.. The term "machine-readable medium" refers to instructions for execution by a machine that, when executed by one or more processors of the machine, cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies described herein. It should also be considered to include any medium, or combination of multiple media, that can store files (eg, code). Accordingly, “machine-readable medium” refers to “cloud-based” storage systems or storage networks that include a single storage device or device, as well as multiple storage devices or devices. The term “machine-readable medium” by itself excludes signals.

A “COMPONENT” in this context is a boundary defined by function or subroutine calls, branch points, application programming interfaces (APIs), or other technologies that provide for partitioning or modularity of particular processing or control functions. refers to a device, physical entity, or logic having Components can be combined with other components through their interfaces to execute machine processes. A component may be a packaged functional hardware unit designed to be used with other components and part of a program that usually performs a specific one of related functions. Components may constitute either software components (eg, code embodied on a machine-readable medium) or hardware components. A “hardware component” is a tangible unit capable of performing particular operations, and may be configured or arranged in a particular physical manner. In various demonstrative embodiments, one or more computer systems (eg, stand-alone computer systems, client computer systems, or server computer systems) or one or more hardware components of a computer system (eg, a processor or group of processors) include: May be configured by software (eg, an application or application portion) as a hardware component that operates to perform specific operations as described herein. A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically, electronically, or in any suitable combination thereof. For example, a hardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic permanently configured to perform particular operations. The hardware component may be a special-purpose processor such as a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). A hardware component may also include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configured by software to perform specific operations. For example, a hardware component may include software executed by a general purpose processor or other programmable processor. Once configured by such software, the hardware components become specific machines (or specific components of a machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configured functions and are no longer general-purpose processors. Recognize that the decision to implement a hardware component mechanically, in a dedicated permanently configured circuit, or in a temporarily configured circuit (eg, configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations. something to do. Thus, the phrase “hardware component” (or “hardware-implemented component”) refers to a tangible entity, ie, physically configured to operate in a particular way or to perform the particular operations described herein, or permanently configured (It should be understood to encompass entities that are, for example, hardwired) or that are temporarily configured (eg, programmed). Considering embodiments in which hardware components are temporarily configured (eg, programmed), each of the hardware components need not be configured or instantiated at any one time instance. For example, where the hardware component includes a general-purpose processor configured by software to be a special-purpose processor, the general-purpose processor is configured as different special-purpose processors (eg, including different hardware components) each at different times. can be The software thus configures a particular processor or processors, for example, to configure a particular hardware component in one time instance and a different hardware component in a different time instance. Hardware components may provide information to and receive information from other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardware components may be considered to be communicatively coupled. Where multiple hardware components exist simultaneously, communication may be achieved via signal transmission (eg, via appropriate circuits and buses) between or between two or more of the hardware components. In embodiments where multiple hardware components are configured or instantiated at different times, communication between such hardware components may, for example, facilitate storage and retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple hardware components may access. can be achieved through For example, one hardware component may perform an operation and store the output of the operation in a memory device communicatively coupled thereto. Additional hardware components can then access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output at a later time. Hardware components may also initiate communication with input or output devices, and may manipulate a resource (eg, a collection of information). The various operations of the example methods described herein may be performed, at least in part, by one or more processors that are temporarily configured (eg, by software) or permanently configured to perform the related operations. Whether temporarily configured or permanently configured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented components that operate to perform one or more operations or functions described herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component” refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors. Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partially processor-implemented, with the particular processor or processors being examples of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or more processors or processor-implemented components. Further, the one or more processors may also operate to support performance of related operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as “software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples of machines including processors), and such operations may be performed over a network (eg, the Internet) and over one or more suitable interfaces (eg, For example, through an application programming interface (API)). The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed among processors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployed across multiple machines. In some demonstrative embodiments, processors or components implemented by a processor may be located in a single geographic location (eg, within a home environment, office environment, or server farm). In other example embodiments, processors or components implemented by processors may be distributed across multiple geographic locations.

A “PROCESSOR” in this context is a corresponding applied to operate a machine and manipulate data values according to control signals (eg, “commands”, “op codes”, “machine code”, etc.). refers to any circuit or virtual circuit (physical circuit emulated by logic running on a real processor) that generates output signals that The processor is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application- Specific Integrated Circuit), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), or any combination thereof. A processor may also be a multi-core processor having two or more independent processors (sometimes referred to as “cores”) capable of executing instructions concurrently.

A "TIMESTAMP" in this context is characters or encoded information identifying when a particular event occurred, eg, providing a date and time of day, sometimes accurate to the nearest fraction of a second. refers to the sequence of

language

Throughout this specification, multiple instances may implement components, operations, or structures described as a single instance. Although individual acts of one or more methods are illustrated and described as separate acts, unless context and/or logic clearly dictates otherwise, one or more of the separate acts may be performed concurrently and the acts are in the order illustrated. does not require that it be done. Structures and functionality presented as separate components in the example configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of the subject matter herein.

Although the summary of the disclosed subject matter has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosed teachings. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, so that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Accordingly, the detailed description is not to be construed in a limiting sense, and the scope of various embodiments is defined solely by the appended claims, together with the full range of equivalents of such claims..

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive or exclusive sense. Also, multiple instances may be provided as a single instance for the resources, operations, or structures described herein. Additionally, boundaries between various resources, operations, modules, engines, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and specific operations are illustrated in the context of specific example configurations. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.