Social Network Timeline Interface for Historical User Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Social networking systems face challenges in presenting older user information effectively due to limited display space and the need to aggregate and associate information from specific time periods, making it difficult for users to view historical content related to past events or social connections.
Innovation Solution
A display interface that presents user information in a chronological timeline or newsfeed, using affinity scores to rank and highlight relevant information, allowing users to view historical content based on past social connections and affinities, and enabling the aggregation of data and activities from specific time periods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If user information is displayed through a profile page divided into sections, then information is organized by type, but it becomes difficult to locate older information and view historical content from specific time periods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments user information by time period rather than by information type. It creates a timeline interface that divides the user's history into distinct time-based segments (e.g., recent activity, past year, earlier periods), allowing users to navigate to specific historical periods directly. This resolves the contradiction by making historical information accessible through time-based segmentation while maintaining the organizational structure needed for ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a time dimension to the information display structure. Instead of organizing information solely by type (education, work, interests) in a static profile page, it adds a temporal dimension that allows information to be viewed along a timeline. This enables users to access historical content from specific time periods by navigating along the time axis, solving the problem of locating older information while preserving categorical organization within each time segment.
2Ease of operation
If the profile page displays information segmented by information type, then information is categorized, but viewers cannot view different types of information related to a particular time period concurrently
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges information from different categories (photos, status updates, check-ins, events) within the same time period into a unified timeline view. Instead of requiring users to separately navigate to different information sections to find content from a specific period, the timeline interface combines multiple information types that are temporally related, allowing concurrent viewing of diverse content from the same historical period in a single integrated display.
Solution Approach 2:
By adding the time dimension as the primary organizational axis, the patent enables users to view multiple information types concurrently within each time segment. The timeline structure allows photos, text updates, location check-ins, and event participations from the same period to be displayed together in context, preserving the contextual relationships that would otherwise be lost when information is strictly segmented by type.
3Quantity of substance
If the social networking system accumulates more information about the user over time, then the information volume increases, but the limited display space makes it difficult to present all information effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the large volume of user information into manageable time-based portions displayed on the timeline. Instead of attempting to show all information simultaneously in a constrained profile page layout, it divides the content into chronological segments that can be navigated through. Each segment displays a curated subset of information from that time period, making the overall large volume of data accessible within limited display space through progressive disclosure and time-based organization.
Solution Approach 2:
The timeline interface introduces dynamic navigation capabilities that allow users to move through different time periods and information subsets as needed. The display adapts to user interactions by loading and displaying relevant information segments on demand, rather than attempting to statically display all accumulated information at once. This dynamic approach enables effective presentation of large information volumes within constrained display areas through interactive exploration.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a display interface in a social networking system that enables the presentation of information related to a user in a timeline or map view. The system accesses information about a user of a social networking system, including both data about the user and social network activities related to the user. The system then selects one or more of these pieces of data and/or activities from a certain time period and gathers them into timeline units based on their relatedness and their relevance to users. These timeline units are ranked by relevance to the user, and are used to generate a timeline or map view for the user containing visual representations of the timeline units organized by location or time. The timeline or map view is then provided to other users of the social networking system that wish to view information about the user.