`
`Early Warning Services 1054
`IPR of U.S. Pat. No. 8,887,308
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`Patent Application Publication
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`FIG. 1
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`FIG. 2
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`28
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`0
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`285
`/
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`API 290 250
`
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`Third Party
`Server
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`Database
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`FIG. 3
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`William’s Landing Page(http://www.friendster.com/william)
`315
`
`My Pictures
`
`My Videos
`
`peneeeeee
`
`
`
`SS
`
`V
`
`Xanga.com
`
`361
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`350
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`YouTube
`
`363
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`Flickr
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`362
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`FIG. 4
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`My Friends
`
`My Pictures
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`William’s Landing Page (http://www.friendster.com/william)
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`My Videos
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`FIG. 5
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`Start
`
`Userselects video
`for viewing
`
`Stream video to
`user's computer
`
`User selects hyperlink
`“Post to Friendster.”
`
`User enters Friendster
`User ID and password
`
`Transmit User ID,
`password and video
`
`data to Friendster
`
`Authenticate
`
`Store video data in
`multimedia database
`
`Generate embed
`codes for user
`
`510
`
`912
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`514
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`516
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`518
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`520
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`522
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`524
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`
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`William’s Landing Page(http://www.friendster.com/william)
`310
`315
`ae WL pane nnn ene eS,
`| My Profile
`|
`| My Friends
`
`anna nen nen ne ene <<
`' My Pictures
`
`330
`
`wee oe ee eee eee eee eee me
`My Blogs
`
`320
`
`440
`610
`nr re ue, TTT Tae 7a
`/ My Videos
`7
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`i|441 42||4a ft fet |!
`
`
`
`tongwielowe feenaee
`
`;
`
`CL
`
`362
`
`350
`
`361
`
`Video Site 4
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`452
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`451
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`MULTIMEDIA AGGREGATIONIN AN
`ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`1. Field of the Invention
`[0001]
`[0002] The present invention generally relates to process-
`ing of online social network data, and moreparticularly, to a
`method and system for managing multimedia content appear-
`ing on user pages of an online social network.
`[0003]
`2. Description of the Related Art
`[0004] Overthe past several years, the amount of multime-
`dia content available online has increased dramatically. With
`accessto cheap storage and higher bandwidths, photo sharing
`sites and video sharing sites have become widely used. Shar-
`ing personal photos with families and friends through one of
`these photo sharing sites is now commonplace. The explosion
`in video sharing is not so muchattributable to the sharing of
`personal video created by the user but the sharing of video
`created by another person that the user finds particularly
`funny, interesting or informative.
`[0005] Video sharing is often done through e-mail. Typi-
`cally, after viewing a video, the user inputs e-mail addresses
`of those persons with whom the user would like to share the
`video. In response, the video sharing site sends an e-mail to
`such personswith a hyperlink to the video. The person receiv-
`ing the e-mail can access the hyperlink to view the video and
`share the video with other personsin the same manner. Video
`viewership can increase very rapidly in this manner.
`[0006] A less intrusive way of sharing video is through a
`profile or landing page a user maintains at an online social
`network. Whena userfinds a video thatis particularly funny,
`interesting or informative, the user features that video on his
`or her landing page at the online social network. As people
`visit the user’s landing pageat the online social network, they
`can watch the video from the user’s landing page although the
`actual video feed is from a third party source.
`[0007] As more and more users at online social networks
`feature videos and other multimedia content on their landing
`pages, the task of managing them has become a challenge to
`online social networks. One major reason forthe difficulty in
`managing such multimedia content is that much of it are not
`stored locally by the online social networks but are streamed
`from servers that host the multimedia content when they are
`accessed for viewing.
`
`SUMMARYOF THE INVENTION
`
`[0008] The present invention provides a method and system
`for managing multimedia content that appear on various user
`pages ofan online social network. According to embodiments
`of the present invention, when multimedia content from a
`third party sourceis selected by a userto be featured on his or
`her profile or landing page, source ID and content ID corre-
`sponding to the featured multimedia content are stored
`locally in a database managedbythe online social network,
`and an embed code for accessing the featured multimedia
`content is generated using the source ID andthe content ID.
`The source ID is an identifier of the third party source of the
`multimedia content and is associated with a configurationfile
`that is used in generating the embed code. The content ID is an
`identifier for the multimedia content used by the third party
`source and is used as an input parameter when generating the
`embed code with the configuration file.
`
`[0009] By managing multimedia content in accordance
`with embodiments of the present invention, greater control
`can be exercised by the online social network over the mul-
`timedia content that are featured in the landing pagesofits
`users. For example, inappropriate content canbefiltered eas-
`ily by searching for the source ID and content ID correspond-
`ing to the inappropriate content and flagging them sothat the
`embed code for such content will not be generated. Blocking
`an entire site is even easier. It just requires a change to the
`configurationfile correspondingto thatsite so that a web page
`displaying a message such as “Access to the URL **** com
`is not permitted.” can be generated in place of the embed
`code. As another example, invalid links that are caused by
`URLchanges implemented by the source of the multimedia
`content can be fixed easily by making the appropriate correc-
`tion to such source’s configurationfile. After the correctionis
`made to the configuration file, all embed codes generated
`using this configuration file will have the correct URL.
`[0010] A first embodiment of the present
`invention is
`directed to amethod for generating a web page, e.g., a landing
`page of a user of an online social network, that includes a
`multimedia section in which multimedia content from a third
`
`party source can be displayed. The methodincludesthe steps
`of receiving a user selection of multimedia content of a third
`party source that is to be added to the multimedia section,
`storing a source ID associated with the third party source,
`storing a content ID associated with the multimedia content,
`generating an embed code for the multimedia content using
`the source ID and the content ID, and generating the web page
`including the multimedia section using the embed code. The
`embed code may be generated by executing a configuration
`file associated with the source ID, wherein the configuration
`file specifies the format ofthe embed code andthe location of
`the third party source (e.g., its URL) associated with the
`source ID.
`
`[0011] A second embodimentof the present invention is
`directed to a method for generating a web pagefor a user of
`the online social network,e.g., the user’s landing page, based
`on third party multimedia content aggregated by other users
`ofthe online social network. The methodincludesthe steps of
`retrieving source IDs and content IDs of multimedia content
`aggregatedby otherusersofthe online social network,select-
`ing at least one multimedia content aggregated by the other
`users of the online social network, generating an embed code
`for the selected multimedia content using its source ID and
`the content ID, and generating the web page using the embed
`code. The embed code may be generated by executing a
`configuration file associated with the source ID, wherein the
`configurationfile specifies the format of the embed code and
`the location of the third party source associated with the
`source ID. The multimedia content may be selected based on
`its popularity with other users of the online social network
`whoare related to the user of the online social network by N
`degrees of separationorless.
`[0012] A third embodiment of the present invention is
`directed to a web server computer for an online social net-
`work. The web server computer includes a local database that
`stores content for a plurality of users of the online social
`network, the content for each of the users including profile
`information and pointers to third party multimedia content,
`and a processing unit that is programmed to generate a land-
`ing pagefor each ofthe users with theprofile information and
`at least one pointer to third party multimedia content. Each of
`the pointers to third party multimedia content includes a
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`source ID associated with a source ofthe third party multi-
`media content and a content ID associated with the third party
`multimedia content, and the landing page includes an embed
`code for the third party multimedia content that is generated
`using the source ID andthe content ID.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`includes an application server 251 and one or more graph
`servers 252. As knownintheart, a server is a computer having
`a processing unit and system memory that is programmedto
`carry out certain functions. The system 250 is connected to a
`network 260, e.g., the Internet, and accessible over the net-
`workbya plurality of remote computers (only three of which
`are shown), collectively designated as 270, and a third party
`server 280 that manageits user database 285 and communi-
`cate with the system 250 through an application program-
`ming interface (API) 290 provided by the system 250. The
`system 250 is connectedto other third party servers (some of
`which communicate with the system 250 through APIs pro-
`vided by the system 250) but, for simplicity, they are not
`shown in FIG.2.
`
`So that the manner in which the aboverecited fea-
`[0013]
`tures of the present invention can be understoodin detail, a
`moreparticular description of the invention, briefly summa-
`rized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some
`of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be
`noted, however, that the appended drawingsillustrate only
`typical embodiments ofthis invention and are therefore not to
`[0024] The application server 251 managesa user database
`be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may
`254, a relationship database 255, a search database 256, and
`admit to other equally effective embodiments.
`other databases 257. The user database 254 containsprofile
`[0014]
`FIG. 1 is a diagram that graphically represents the
`information for each of the user in the online social network
`relationships between users of an online social network;
`managed by the system 250. The profile information may
`[0015] FIG.21s a block diagram illustrating components of
`include, among other things: a unique user identifier (user
`a system for managing an online social network and connec-
`ID), name, age, gender, location, hometown, references to
`tions to this system from a third party server and client com-
`imagefiles, listing of interests, attributes, and the like. The
`puters;
`user database 254 also contains information about groups
`FIG. 3 is a schematicillustration of an example of a
`[0016]
`(e.g., organizations, school alumniassociations, family, etc.)
`landing pageforaparticular user and external content sources
`that users have defined. The group information mayinclude,
`for the landing page;
`among other things: a unique group identifier (group ID),
`[0017]
`FIG. 41s a schematic illustration of a user landing
`name,description of the group, and membersof the group.
`page that has been generated in accordance with an embodi-
`The relationship database 255 stores for each user, the user
`mentof the present invention;
`IDsofall users with whom the user has a direct relationship,
`[0018]
`FIG. 5 is a flow diagram that illustrates the steps
`1.e., direct friends ofthe user whoare users ofthe online social
`carried out to generate a web pagethat includes embed codes
`network. In addition, the contents ofthe user database 254 are
`for multimedia content; and
`indexed and optimized for search, and stored in the search
`[0019]
`FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of a user landing
`database 256. The other databases 257 may include a multi-
`page that has been generated in accordance with another
`media content database and a database for storing testimoni-
`embodimentof the present invention.
`als and various other information commonly stored in online
`social networks and communities. The user database 254, the
`relationship database 255, the search database 256, and the
`other databases 257 are updatedto reflect inputs of new user
`[0020] FIG.1is a graph representation of a social network
`
`information and edits of existing user information that are
`centered ona given individual (ME). Otherusers ofthis social
`made through the remote computers 270.
`network include A-U whose position, relative to ME’s, is
`referred to by the degree of separation between MEand each
`[0025] The application server 251 also managesthe infor-
`other user. Friends of ME, which includes A, B, and C, are
`mation exchange requests that it receives from the remote
`separated from ME by onedegree of separation (1 d/s). A
`computers 270 over the Internet. The graph servers 252
`friend of a friend of ME is separated from ME by 2 d/s. As
`receive a query from the application server 251, process the
`shown,D, E, F, G, and H are each separated from MEby 2 d/s.
`query and return the query results to the application server
`A friend ofa friend ofa friend ofME is separated from ME by
`251. The graph servers 252 manage a representation of the
`social network for all users in the member database. The
`3 d/s. FIG. 1 depicts all nodes separated from ME by more
`than 3 degrees of separation as belonging to the category
`graph servers 252 have a dedicated memory device 253, such
`ALL.
`as arandom access memory (RAM), in which an adjacency
`list that indicates all first degree relationships in the social
`network is stored. The graph servers 252 respond to requests
`from application server 251 to identify relationships and the
`degree of separation between users of the online social net-
`work. The application server 251 is further configured to
`receive data feeds, e.g., RSS feeds, from a third party server
`280 through an application programminginterface (API) 290
`that third parties may useto senddata to the application server
`251 for storage in one of the databases managedbythe appli-
`cation server 251.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION
`
`[0021] Degrees of separation in a social network are
`definedrelative to an individual. For example, in ME’s social
`network, H and MEare separated by 2 d/s, whereas in G’s
`social network, H and G are separated by only 1 d/s. Accord-
`ingly, each individual will have their ownsetoffirst, second
`and third degree relationships.
`[0022] As those skilled in the art understand, an individu-
`al’s social network may be extended to include nodes to an
`Nth degree of separation. As the numberof degrees increases
`beyond three, however, the numberof nodestypically grows
`at an explosive rate and quickly begins to mirror the ALL set.
`[0023]
`FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system 250
`for creating and managing an online social network. The
`system 250 represents one example embodimentof a system
`for creating and managing an online social network, and
`
`invention
`In the embodiments of the present
`[0026]
`described below,users are respectively operating the remote
`computers 270 that are programmed to execute web browser
`programs, and access the web pages managed bythe appli-
`cation server 251 using the web browser programs. The web
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`streameddirectly from a corresponding oneof external video
`pages that are displayed to a user are transmitted from the
`sites 451, 452, 453. The direct streaming from the external
`application server 251 to that user’s remote computer and
`video sites 451, 452, 453 is enabled using embed codeshav-
`processed by the web browser program stored in that user’s
`ing the following general format:
`remote computer for display through the monitor of that
`user’s remote computer.
`<embed=srce=“http://videosite.com/vid.swf?id=12345”></
`embed>.
`[0027]
`FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a web page that
`functions asaprofile or landing pagefor a particular user in an [0032] The embed codesthat enable direct streaming from
`
`online social network and external content sources for the
`the external video sites 451, 452, 453 are typically made
`landing page. This landing page can be accessed several
`available by the external video sites 451, 452, 453 for pasting
`ways. First, it can be accessed from within the online social
`into the HTMLfile corresponding to a user’s landing page,
`network by the user when the user logs into the online social
`such as the one shownin FIG. 4. The process may even be
`network and navigates to this web page or by other users who
`automatedso that the embed codeis automatically pasted into
`clicks on a user ID or an image associated with this user.
`the HTMLfile correspondingto a user’s landing page. This
`Second,it can be accessed directly by typing in the associated
`would occur, for example, when a uservisits an external video
`site, views a video at the external video site, and indicates that
`URLinto a web browser. Third, this page may be opened up
`to web crawlers of search engines and accessed when a user
`he or she would like to add the videoto his or her landing page
`at an online social network.
`clicks on a search result that is hyperlinked to this page.
`[0028] The web page shown in FIG. 3 includes multiple
`sections that contain different categories of content associ-
`ated with the user. The user’s profile information is provided
`in section 310. A list of the user’s friends in the online social
`
`Inthe embodiments of the present invention, embed
`[0033]
`codes for video files are generated from a source ID (which
`identifies the external source of the videofile) and a content
`ID (whichis an identifier ofthe videofile used by the external
`source) using configurationfiles having the following general
`format:
`videosite=<embed
`swf?id=%ID%”></embed>.
`
`src=“‘http://videosite.com/vid.
`
`network and hyperlinksto their landing pages are provided in
`section 315. Section 320 displays the user’s blog. In this
`example, the user is maintaining a blog at an external website
`361, e.g., Xanga.com, and the content of his or her blog is
`supplied from the external web site using an RSS feed. Ina
`similar manner, the content of the user’s pictures that is dis-
`played in section 330 is supplied from an external web site
`362 (e.g., Flickr) using an RSS feed, and the content of the
`user’s videos that is displayed in section 340 is supplied from
`an external web site 363 (e.g., YouTube) using an RSS feed.
`[0029] As away to minimize the numberoftimesan exter-
`nal website is accessed for the necessary RSS feeds, all RSS
`feeds from external websites are stored in a cachestorage unit
`350. All RSS feeds are also assigned a minimum lifetime and
`a maximum lifetime. When a landing page of a user is
`accessed and the landing page contains sections that rely on
`RSS feeds, the lifetime of each such RSS feed is checked.If
`it is below its minimum lifetime, the last cached version ofthe
`RSS feed is accessed. If it has exceeded the minimum life-
`
`time, a query is issued to the external website for the latest
`information. On a global basis, whenever an RSS feed
`reaches its maximum lifetime, a query is issuedto the external
`website for the latest information.
`
`[0030] The query that is issued to an external website for
`content associated with a user includes the user ID and pass-
`word of that user as proof that access to the user’s account
`maintainedby the external website is authorized. The user ID
`and passwordare provided by the user whenthe usersets up
`his or her landing page to retrieve content from external web
`sites through RSS feeds. The issued query is kept hidden at
`the user level and preferably encoded or encrypted so that the
`user ID and password contained in the query can be kept
`confidential.
`
`FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a user landing page
`[0031]
`that has been generated in accordance with an embodiment of
`the present invention. The web page depicted in FIG.4 is the
`same as the web page depicted in FIG. 3 exceptthat the user
`video section is generated differently. In the embodiment of
`FIG.4, the videos that are featured in section 440 are not
`stored in the cache storage unit 350 but are streamed in from
`an external, third party source. Thus, when a userclicks on a
`video thumbnail image 441, 442, or 443 to view the video, the
`video is not supplied from the cache storage unit 350 butis
`
`The parameter “%]D%”signifies a variable field into which
`the content ID is inserted. The source ID points to the con-
`figurationfile to use, because different configurationfiles are
`providedfor different external video sites. For example, each
`of videosite1, videosite2 and videosite3 has its own configu-
`ration file, as shown below:
`videositel=<embed
`swf?id=%ID%”></embed>
`videosite2=<embed
`swf?id=%ID%”></embed>
`videosite3=<embed
`swf?id=%ID%”></embed>
`
`sre=“‘http://videositel .com/vid.
`
`sre=“‘http://videosite2.com/vid.
`
`sre=“‘http://videosite3 .com/vid.
`
`As an example, if the source ID=“videosite3”and the content
`ID=“51515”fora videofile, the embed code corresponding to
`that video file would be generated as:
`<embed srce=“‘http://videosite3.com/vid.swf?id=51515”"></
`embed>.
`
`FIG. 5 is a flow diagram that illustrates the steps
`[0034]
`carried out to generate an HTMLfile that includes embed
`codes for the user’s videos. In the flow diagram of FIG. 5,
`steps 510-518 are carried out by the server computer of the
`external video site and steps 520-524 are carried out by the
`server computerof the online social network. Referring back
`to FIG. 2, the server computer of the online social network
`correspondsto the system 250 and the server computer ofthe
`external video site correspondsto the third party server 250
`connected to a database 285 and configured with an API 290
`that is provided by the online social network.
`[0035]
`In step 510, the user navigates to an external video
`site and selects a video for viewing. In responseto this selec-
`tion, the video is streamed to the user’s computer and dis-
`played to the user (step 512). The user’s display includes a
`hyperlink “Post to Friendster.” This hyperlink permits the
`user to feature this video on the user’s landing page at the
`online social network, Friendster. In step 514,the user selects
`the hyperlink “Post to Friendster.” In response to this selec-
`tion,the user is prompted in step 516 for user ID and password
`corresponding to the user’s accountat the online social net-
`work. Upon submission of this information, the external
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`video site transmits this information along with the particu-
`lars of the videofile, such as the source ID (whichidentifies
`the external video site that is hosting the video file) and the
`content ID (whichis an identifier of the videofile used by the
`external video site) to the online social network, and various
`other data (step 518). Steps 516 and 518 are carried out using
`the API 290 provided by the online social network.
`[0036]
`In step 520, the online social network authenticates
`the user ID against the password using the information stored
`in its user database. If the user ID is authenticated, i.e., the
`password matches the password forthe user ID stored in the
`user database,the particularsofthe video file are stored in the
`multimedia content database of the online social network
`
`along with the user ID (step 522). The following table con-
`ceptually illustrates the arrangementof the data that is stored
`in the multimedia content database.
`
`however, preferable to carry out the generation step according
`to a predetermined schedule so as to conserve computational
`resources. For example, the generation step is not carried out
`whennoneofthe videofile entries associated with the user’s
`
`landing page has an updateflag that is equal to 1, but is carried
`out whenthere is at least one videofile entry with an update
`flag that is equal to 1.
`[0040] When auserselects a third party video for viewing
`from a web page within the online social network (e.g., a
`landing page of anotheruser or a video search page), the user
`may watch the third party video at the web page within the
`online social network without navigating to the third party’s
`website. Whenthe user doesthis, a hyperlink “Addto Profile”
`appears alongside the video display. This hyperlink permits
`the userto feature the video he or she is watching on the user’s
`landing page. In responsetothis selection, the source ID, the
`
`User
`ID
`
`Source ID
`
`Content
`ID
`
`Thumbnail Tags
`
`Description
`
`William videositel
`
`William videosite2
`
`William videosite3
`
`Jeff
`
`videosite2
`
`12345 videol.jpg funny,
`dogs
`12345 video2.jpg tennis
`
`51515 video3.jpg food,
`contest
`33221 video4.jpg soccer
`
`A compilation showing a number
`of funny dogtricks.
`An incredible shot executed by
`RogerFederer.
`Hot dog eating contest held in
`Honolulu, HI in 2006.
`A compilation of incredible soccer
`moments.
`
`In the table shown above, each row represents data
`[0037]
`associated with a single videofile. “Source ID”indicates the
`external videosite that is hosting this videofile and identifies
`the configurationfile to be used in generating the embed code
`for this videofile. “Content ID”indicates the unique ID used
`by the external videosite to identify this videofile and is used
`as an input parameter when generating the embed code for
`this videofile. “Thumbnail”indicates the memory location of
`the thumbnail image corresponding to this video file. One or
`more entries under “Tags” indicate descriptive keywords
`associated with this videofile. The entry under “Description”
`provides a brief description of the content of this videofile.
`The particulars of the videofile that are transmitted from the
`external videosite to the online social network are controlled
`
`by the API 290.
`[0038] When a landing page of a user, such as the one
`shownin FIG.4, is generated, it is generated from an HTML
`file corresponding to the landing page that is stored in the
`cachestorage unit 350. This HTMLfile includes embed codes
`corresponding to any third party videothat is featured by the
`user in section 440. In step 524, the embed codes correspond-
`ing to the featured third party videos are generated and
`inserted into the HTMLfile corresponding to user’s landing
`page. During this generation step, the multimedia content
`database is checked for videofile entries associated with the
`
`user that has an updateflag set (i-e., equal to 1). For all video
`file entries that meet these conditions, the embed codecorre-
`sponding to such entries will be generated using a configura-
`tion file identified by that entry’s source ID and inserted into
`the HTMLfile correspondingto the user’s landing page. After
`the generation step is carried out for the user, the update flag
`of all videofile entries of the useris set to 0.
`
`[0039] The generation step may be carried out on-the-fly
`each time the landing page of the user is requested. It is,
`
`contentID, andthe particulars of this videofile are stored in
`the multimedia content database of the online social network
`
`along with the user ID ofthis user.
`[0041]
`FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a user landing page
`that has been generated in accordance with another embodi-
`mentof the present invention. The web page depicted in FIG.
`6 is the sameas the web page depicted in FIG. 4 exceptit has
`an additionalsection 610 that features one or more videos 611
`that have been determined to be popular with other users of
`the online social network who are related to the user by N
`degrees of separation or less, where N is typically 1 or 2 but
`can be any positive integer. The videos 611 that are featured in
`section 610 are generated in the same manneras the videos
`that are featured in section 440. The differences between the
`featured videos in section 610 and the featured videos in
`section 440 are:(1) the featured location on the landing page,
`and (2) the decision criteria that are used by the online social
`network in determining whetheror notto feature the video.
`[0042]
`In the simplest implementation, a single video is
`featured in section 610 andthis video represents the videothat
`is the most popular with first degree friends of the user(i.e.,
`those users who are one degree of separation away). The
`popularity may be basedontheir adoption (most often added
`to a landing page) or their viewership (most often viewed), or
`a combination of the two. When two or more videos are
`
`featured in section 610, the videos may be featured in the
`orderoftheir rank with only the top N videos featured (where
`N can be anyplural integer).
`[0043]
`Inan alternative implementation, a video’s popular-
`ity with all users of the online social network, up to a prede-
`termined degree of separation (e.g., 2, 3, or N), is considered.
`In this implementation,
`the video’s popularity with first
`degree friends may be weighted more than the video’s popu-
`larity with second degree friends, and the video’s popularity
`
`EWS-006295
`
`EWS-006295
`
`
`
`US 2008/0222199 Al
`
`Sep. 11, 2008
`
`with second degree friends may be weighted more than the
`video’s popularity with third degree friends, and so forth.
`[0044] By managing multimedia content in accordance
`with embodiments of the present invention described above,
`greater control can be exercised by the online social network
`over the multimedia content that are featured in the landing
`pages of its users. For example, inappropriate multimedia
`content can be filtered easily by searching for the source ID
`and content ID corresponding to the inappropriate multime-
`dia content in the multimedia content database and flagging
`them so that the next time a user page that features such
`multimedia content is accessed, the embed code for such
`multimedia content will not be inserted into that user page.
`[0045] As another example, an entire site can be blocked.
`Assuming the source ID for the site to be blocked is vid-
`eosite4, this can be done by modifying the configurationfile
`associated with thatsite from:
`
`videosited=<embed
`swf?id—%ID%’’></embed>
`to:
`
`sre=“‘http://videosite4 .com/vid.
`
`videosited=<p> Access to the URL videosite4.com is not
`permitted.</p>
`[0046]
`Invalid links that are caused by URL changesimple-
`mented by the source of the multimedia content also can be
`fixed easily with the embodiments of the present invention.
`For example, if the source of the multimedia content (source
`ID=videosite5) changes the URL for accessing its videos
`from videosite5.com/vid.swf?id=xxx to videosite5.com/en/
`
`v.swf?id=xxx,the configurationfile for videosite5 is changed
`in a similar manner from:
`videosite5=<embed
`swf?id—%ID%’’></embed>
`to:
`videosite5=<embed
`swf?id=%ID%”></embed>
`
`sre=“‘http://videosite5.com/en/v.
`
`sre=“‘http://videosite5.com/vid.
`
`After this change is madeto the configurationfile, all video
`file entries having source ID=videosite5 will have their
`update flags set to 1 so as to cause embed codes for all
`multimedia content from videosite5 to be regenerated when
`user pages that feature such multimedia content is subse-
`quently accessed.
`invention
`[0047]
`In the embodiments of the present
`described above, RSS feeds are described as the mechanism
`for transmitting content between the third party servers and
`the server computerof the online social network. Other types
`of web feeds may be employed with the present invention.
`Someof these examples include atom feeds and feeds based
`on the SOAPprotocol. Also, the embed codes shown above
`are HTML embedcodes. The present invention is, however,
`not limited to any particular type of embed codes, and may be
`practiced with embed codes for any markup language for
`creation of web pages.
`in the embodiments of the present
`[0048]
`In addition,
`invention described above, video content that includes video
`and audio is provided as an example of the multimedia con-
`tent. In general, multimedia is media that uses multiple forms
`of information content, and multimedia content is media con-
`tent that includes multiple forms of information content.
`[0049] While particular embodiments according to the
`invention have been illustrated and described above, those
`skilled in the art unders