Apple has been granted a patent for the real-time visualization of user consumption of media items. Computer mediated social networking systems provide users with access to network forums for sharing and accessing information about products and services used by others in the network. This information can be gathered and made accessible to users in the network in various ways, according to Apple.
The patent involves a computer implemented method for displaying real-time computer mediated user consumption data, comprising: accessing consumption data corresponding to real-time computer mediated user consumption behavior; parsing the consumption data to identify one or more events comprising one or more instances of consumption data and wherein each event is associated with a user; adding the events to an event stack comprising a predetermined stack limit; and storing the consumption data for each event in a data structure configured to correlate related consumption data and provide a temporal context to the stored consumption data wherein addition of graphical symbols to a visualization display is responsive to the arrangement of the consumption data in the data structure.
Justin Donaldson is the inventor. The patent number is 8332406.
