Granted Patent B2

US 12,355,719 · App. 18/745,387 · Granted Jul 8, 2025

Inventors: Nicholas Richard Allen (Venice, CA); Jacob Andreou (Santa Monica, CA); Evan Spiegel (Los Angeles, CA)

Assignee: SNAP INC.

H04L51/52H04L51/222H04W4/021H04M1/72436

Abstract

Claims (60)

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, input from a first device that initiates a group story in relation to an event, the input designating one or more parameters of the group story and the one or more parameters comprising a geo-fence;

associating a posting window with the group story that defines a time window during which content is allowed to be associated with the group story;

presenting, based on the input, a user interface on the first device, the user interface comprising multiple regions, a first region of the multiple regions presenting a name of the group story, a second region of the multiple regions comprising a map interface representing the geo-fence, a third region identifying a first set of users allowed to contribute content to the group story and a fourth region identifying a second set of users allowed to view content of the group story without contributing content to the group story, the user interface being interactive to enable a user to adjust the geo-fence in the map interface and adjust which users are included in the first set of users and the second set of users; and

determining, based on metadata associated with the content, that the content was captured from within the geo-fence between start and end times of the event to control posting of the content based on the posting window.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

enabling a second device to post one or more content items to the group story based on the posting window associated with the group story, the second device being enabled to post the one or more content items in response to determining that the one or more content items were captured from within the geo-fence and during the time window.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

after the group story has been initiated, determining that the second device was previously located within the geo-fence associated with a geographic location of the event between the start time and the end time to enable the second device to post the one or more content items.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving location data from a second device that indicates a geographic location of the second device; and

determining that the received location data of the second device satisfies one or more parameters of the group story.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, based on an entity graph representing connections between a plurality of users registered with a messaging server system, that a first user, associated with the first device, is within a threshold degree of connection with a second user associated with a second device; and

causing the first device to present a user interface element that enables the second user to submit given content to the group story.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

obtaining the metadata associated with content received from a second device, the metadata indicating a time at which the content was captured and a geographic location at which the content was captured;

transmitting, to the first device, the content received from the second device;

receiving, from the first device, an authorization message to add the content to the group story; and

in response to receiving the authorization message, adding the content to the group story.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving an access request from a second device associated with a second user; and

determining that the second user is authorized to view the group story.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining that the second user is authorized to view the group story comprises:

determining, based on an entity graph, that the second user is within a threshold degree of connection with a first user associated with the first device.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining that the group story has remained inactive for a threshold period of time.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

deleting the group story in response to determining that the group story has remained inactive for the threshold period of time.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the posting window begins at a start time of the event and ends at a threshold period of time following the end time of the event.

12. A system comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

one or more computer-readable mediums storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving input from a first device that initiates a group story in relation to an event, the input designating one or more parameters of the group story and the one or more parameters comprising a geo-fence;

associating a posting window with the group story that defines a time window during which content is allowed to be associated with the group story;

presenting, based on the input, a user interface on the first device, the user interface comprising multiple regions, a first region of the multiple regions presenting a name of the group story, a second region of the multiple regions comprising a map interface representing the geo-fence, a third region identifying a first set of users allowed to contribute content to the group story, and a fourth region identifying a second set of users allowed to view content of the group story without contributing content to the group story, the user interface being interactive to enable a user to adjust the geo-fence in the map interface and adjust which users are included in the first set of users and the second set of users; and

determining, based on metadata associated with the content, that the content was captured from within the geo-fence between start and end times of the event to control posting of the content based on the posting window.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:

enabling a second device to post one or more content items to the group story based on the posting window associated with the group story, the second device being enabled to post the one or more content items in response to determining that the one or more content items were captured from within the geo-fence and during the time window.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining, based on an entity graph representing connections between a plurality of users registered with a messaging server system, that a first user, associated with the first device, is within a threshold degree of connection with a second user associated with a second device; and

causing the first device to present a user interface element that enables the second user to submit given content to the group story.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining the metadata associated with content received from a second device, the metadata indicating a time at which the content was captured and a geographic location at which the content was captured;

transmitting, to the first device, the content received from the second device;

receiving, from the first device, an authorization message to add the content to the group story; and

in response to receiving the authorization message, adding the content to the group story.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an access request from a second client device associated with a second user; and

determining that the second user is authorized to view the group story.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise deleting the group story after a threshold period of time of inactivity related to the group story.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computer processors of a messaging server system, cause the messaging server system to perform operations comprising:

receiving input from a first device that initiates a group story in relation to an event, the input designating one or more parameters of the group story and the one or more parameters comprising a geo-fence;

associating a posting window with the group story that defines a time window during which content is allowed to be associated with the group story;

presenting, based on the input, a user interface on the first device, the user interface comprising multiple regions, a first region of the multiple regions presenting a name of the group story, a second region of the multiple regions comprising a map interface representing the geo-fence, a third region identifying a first set of users allowed to contribute content to the group story, and a fourth region identifying a second set of users allowed to view content of the group story without contributing content to the group story, the user interface being interactive to enable a user to adjust the geo-fence in the map interface and adjust which users are included in the first set of users and the second set of users; and

determining, based on metadata associated with the content, that the content was captured from within the geo-fence between start and end times of the event to control posting of the content based on the posting window.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , the operations further comprising:

receiving location data from a second device that indicates a geographic location of the second device; and

determining that the received location data of the second device satisfies one or more parameters of the group story.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise:

enabling a second device to post one or more content items to the group story based on the posting window associated with the group story, the second device being enabled to post the one or more content items in response to determining that the one or more content items were captured from within the geo-fence and during the time window.

Assignments (2)

Continuity (5)

References Cited (400)