FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field of social networking, and, more particularly, to systems and methods for providing unified anonymous global social networking features related to the state of mind of the users

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is well known that a social networking system allows its users to connect to and communicate with other users, via their individual profiles on the system that portray their identities and include information, such as interests and demography. Users in any network may be individuals or entities such as corporations or charities. With an increasing amount of user-specific information maintained by the social networking systems, an ideal forum for users to share their interests and experiences with other users. For example, users provide the platform with information describing their characteristics that allows it to maintain states that describe the characteristics of various users. Some of the user characteristics described by a state include a user's locations, actions, emotions, feelings, moods, events, circumstances, attributes and thoughts, and the like.

It is further well known that conventional social networking systems permit users to upload content pertaining to their day to day life through status updates and other types of posts on the networking system. A user may check-in to a location and upload a picture taken at the location to show to the network and other users that it was at the location. A user may check-in to a location, upload a picture and share details about the location to the other users and the entire network. This information provided by the user is presented to other users of the same network, as a story or feed classifying the user and the provided content. However, if a user posts large amounts of content over a long period of time, it may be difficult for the user, or other users, to navigate or to manage the information, thereby leading to a lot of noise on existing social networking platforms. Essentially, none of the social networking platforms presently available to users are able to focus on quality over quantity.

Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for innovative, novel, efficient solutions for systems and methods for providing social networking features related to the state of mind of the users. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present disclosure have several interconnected features, no single one of which is solely responsible for their desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the present embodiments as expressed by the claims that follow, their more prominent features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled “Detailed Description”, one will understand how the features of the present embodiments provide advantages.

In one embodiment, a method for providing social networking features related to a state of mind of a user of a social networking system includes the steps of, displaying a user interface to the user depending upon a geographical location of the user; assisting the user, via a user device associated with the user, to create a ping based on the state of mind of the user; sharing, via a processor, the ping created by the user within the social networking system; and, analysing, via the processor, a plurality of pings created by the user to reveal reactions, patterns, observations, statistics and data analytics.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for providing social networking features (ping) related to a state of mind of a user of a social networking system, according to an embodiment of the invention; and, FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for providing social networking features (ping leaf) related to a state of mind of a user of a social networking system, according to an embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Various embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein below, which relate to systems and methods for providing social networking features related to the state of mind of the users.

Generally, social networking features are aimed at describing one or more states of a user displaying an account of a user's state. Additionally, a user seeing another user's state information may characterize a state of the other user to itself. For instance, a user may examine an emotion displayed along with an additional user's state information to link the additional user's state of the mind with that of the user. A user viewing information that portrays its own state may add, edit, or delete a state, or enter an end date for a state where required, such as, for example, but not limited to, excitement about a new job, sadness associated with loss of a pet, and the like.

The embodiments of the current invention are aimed at creating a “Ping” ecosystem including various interconnected products all in one place or one network, including, but not limited to, social networks for creating an anonymous unified network, an emotional or thought map of the world, communication on the internet for offering new ways to text, message, share content etc., expression of consciousness by way of emotions, thoughts, feelings, actions, etc, psychological well-being and raising the vibration of the individual and planet, personal journaling covering habit changing and self- improvement, collective action to improve society, mindfulness and meditation on the Internet, corporate and group well-being, and the like.

Various embodiments of the present invention are aimed at providing an anonymous global unified social network consisting of users who represent their state of mind/heart/body/soul though atomic(non-divisible) single units called “Pings”. Generally, these pings represent one unit of consciousness (emotions, feelings, thoughts, actions ...etc) and are symbolically represented using an icon - geometric structure, shape, color, size, text, sound, random number, and other similar attributes.

Specifically, the present invention is embodied as a global unified social network similar to an online democracy of the world where citizens can come together and agree on a majority. One of the intentions of the project is to raise the vibration of the planet by making people more self-aware and improve user’s understanding of their emotions, thoughts, actions and overall happiness. More specifically, the network as disclosed herein is very visual, colorful, spiritual, statistical, geo-located and transcends countries, cultures, ages, genders, politics, and the like.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for providing social networking features related to a state of mind of a user of a social networking system includes the steps of, displaying a user interface to the user depending upon a geographical location of the user; assisting the user, via a user device associated with the user, to create a ping based on the state of mind of the user and / or selected an existing ping based on the state of mind of the user; sharing, via a processor, the ping created by the user within the social networking system; and, analysing, via the processor, a plurality of pings created by the user to reveal observations, patterns, reactions, statistics, visualizations and data analytics.

In use, the systems and methods as disclosed herein are aimed at allowing the user to express himself/herself by selecting a Ping based on his/her state of mind. The user chooses a particular ping from a pre-created/selected set of pings which are common and universal for all users e.g. the user comes and chooses that he is feeling “sad” and presses the sad button or ping. As soon as the ping is pressed then the ping is dropped at the exact geo-location of the user and also registered or saved into the Persona/Atman (personal account) and into the global anonymous database.

Those of ordinary skills in the art will appreciate that the term “ping” as disclosed herein represents the state of the mind of the user (or the consciousness). In use, various aspects associated with a ping include, but not limited to, a shape representing a category or a type of the ping, wherein such shape may be a circle (Universal pings), a Triangle (Action pings), a Square (Thought pings), one or more Stars (Emotion pings), a Hexagon (Belief pings), or other advanced shapes for other forms of consciousness.

Furthermore, the user is able to represent his/her state of mind, including, emotions, feelings, thoughts, actions, beliefs and universal form of consciousness. There are several ping types where different geometric shapes are used to represent the various type/forms of consciousness. For example, an emotion is represented by a star shaped ping, an action is represented by a triangle ping, and the like. Also, each ping has a color, and the colors of the rainbow spectrum are used to represent the positive to negative emotions, such as, for example, VIBGYOR is used for colors including Violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, red to denote emotions from positive to negative. Here Violet is the most positive emotion (like Enlightenment, joy, bliss) and red is the most negative emotion (like anger, depression, fear). In further use, the saturation and brightness can be used to represent the intensity of the emotion, for example, bright red is “Intense sadness” and light red is “mild sadness”. On similar lines, just like there are primary, secondary and tertiary colors, there are also primary, secondary and tertiary emotions. The ping establishes a framework where each emotion corresponds to a color. Hence it possible to combine primary emotions (or colors) in certain ratios and proportions and create secondary emotions (or colors).

In addition to the above, further aspects associated with the ping include a color of the ping, wherein the color represents emotion including negative emotions (Red), positive emotions (Violet), or VIBGYOR / Rainbow color spectrum to represent positive to negative emotional scale. Also, the size of the ping can represent a number of people pinging the same ping, wherein a small circle denotes less population, and a bigger circle denotes more popular ping. Similarly, a density (intensity/contrast of color) of the ping is another aspect, which can vary between a more intense red (very sad) to a less intense red (somewhat sad).

Moreover, the systems and methods as disclosed herein further include other aspects of the ping, such as, for example, but not limited to, sound wherein each ping can have a sound and once a ping is created this sound will be played, like positive emotion (happy - 432 HZ), negative emotion (Sad - 90 HZ), etc. In use, other aspects of the ping relate to Text/Title/Font of the ping representing words associated with the ping, and symbol/image wherein the actual image that goes inside the ping is displayed.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, once a ping is created by the user, then the processor reveals a lot of observations, including, but not limited to, the user and association with his/her past, present and future self, the association/pattern of the user with respect to the emotion, thought, or action (any type of patterns like frequency, intensity, and the like), the user and association with the global social network, the user and his/her association with the closed network (like a list of friends or family members), the user and his/her association with a cause, group or special interest, and the like (e.g. the cause of “legalizing Marijuana”).

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of, assisting the user, via the user device associated with the user, to create a ping leaf based on the ping created by the user, the ping leaf including content associated with at least one characteristics of the user. In use, the content associated with the at least one characteristics of the user includes text, images, audio, videos, and the like. In further use, at least one characteristics of the user includes an emotion, an action, a state of mind, an experience, an expression, consciousness, a feeling, and the like.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, each ping has a primary characteristics of shape, color, size, sound, text, and each ping leaf includes text (comment), images, audio, video, #tags, location, events, and the like, which add additional values to the pings.

Those of ordinary skills in the art will appreciate that as used herein, the ping leaf refers to a reaction, a result, or, a consequence of the ping created in accordance with the systems and methods as disclosed hereinabove.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of, providing, by the processor, a plurality of other pings generated by other user devices, including the user device, for presentation to a plurality of users of the social networking system; receiving, by the processor, a collection of the plurality of other pings from the plurality of other user devices; processing, by the processor, the collection of the plurality of other pings for revealing the observations, patterns, the statistics and the data analytics.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes the step of observing a ping illustrating a ping leaf on a map, wherein once a ping is created, it appears on the current geo-location of the map. In use, a date and time stamp is also added. In further use, the invention further provides the users with various aspects inside the ping leaf, such as, for example, but not limited to, a comment box, a time and date stamp, an accurate location, option to change anonymous status to a public status, a relevant quotation from a famous or important person, a ping string or a ping chain within the ping leaf creation, and the like. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the systems and methods as disclosed herein are aimed at allowing the users to create, observe, act or react (OR) observe, and act on the pings. In use, the process of selecting or creating a ping where the user comes and sees a menu of ping choices and ping type is arranged based on a psychological framework. Furthermore, at subsequent step, the ping is now created and observed on a map (social network).

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method comprises the step of providing the user, via the processor, with a messenger application executed on the user device, to facilitate a text and / or visual communication with other users. In use, the messenger application is a module where the user is able to communicate and collaborate with other users. This consists of the ability to send and receive pings, and move away from text based messaging into symbol and sign based messaging. This type of message is independent of any particular language and uses universal symbols/emoji or pings to communicate. Further, this type of messaging can easily aggregate several lines of text into visual symbols that explain several paragraphs into simple visuals. This type of messaging (sending and receiving pings) can easily make communication very effective in groups, message boards and forums. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes step of providing the user, via the processor, with a gamification module to improve awareness, memory, focus, concentration and emotional intelligence. In use, simple games, exercises, tasks and events are created by the processor and on following the instructions, it successfully improves the consciousness of the user.

FIG. 1 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for providing social networking features (ping) related to a state of mind of a user of a social networking system, according to an embodiment of the invention; and, FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for providing social networking features (ping leaf) related to a state of mind of a user of a social networking system, according to an embodiment of the invention. In use, the systems and methods as disclosed herein are aimed at providing an interface to the user to select an existing ping or to create a new ping based on the mood or state of mind of the user. Subsequently, once created or selected, the ping is created, saved and placed on the geo-location, the ping is also stored in the ping leaf, global map (www.ping. earth) and personal account (www.atma. earth). After the ping is created, it can be observed, acted up, associated with a pattern, statistically validated and finally, another ping can be created from the parent ping. As an example, if the user pings he is feeling “sad”, and on the ping leaf can select the reason as “Corona” which becomes the reason for his/her sadness”. Hence, nesting of pings within pings is possible. Thereafter, the created ping can be sent to another person, group, associated with an object (like a person, cause, interest). In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, in case of ping leaf, the ping appears on a ping leaf on a map. In use, the Ping leaf consists of read only part, - which reveal statistics, pattern and observational data. In further use, the Ping leaf also consists of input data, where the user can type in more information about the current ping, such as, for example, if the user is feeling “Happy” the user can type in the reason why he or she is feeling happy.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the ping leaf also consists of system generated contextual data. As an example, if the user says he is feeling angry and the processor finds out that he is feeling angry in Berlin. Further, the processor knows the demographics of the user and his personality type (e.g. Introverted), based on this context the processor can give intelligent advice, including, but not limited to, spiritual, religious, scientific, biological, social, auto-suggestion, and the like.

Those of ordinary skills in the art will further appreciate that various embodiments as disclosed herein may be executed in a system environment including one or more user devices, a communication network, one or more third-party systems, and the like. In alternative configurations, different and/or additional components may be included in the system environment as well. In use, the embodiments described herein can be adapted to online systems that are not social networking systems.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the user devices may include one or more computing devices capable of receiving user input as well as transmitting and/or receiving data via the communication network. In one embodiment, a user device may include a conventional computer system, such as a desktop or a laptop computer. Alternatively, a user device may be a device having computer functionality, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a watch, a smartphone or another suitable device. In operation, the user device is configured to communicate via the communication network. In one embodiment, the user device executes an application allowing a user of the user device to interact with the social networking aspects as disclosed hereinabove. As an example, the user device may execute a browser application to enable interaction between the user device and the social networking aspects as disclosed hereinabove via the communication network. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the user device may interact with the social networking aspects as disclosed herein through an application programming interface (API) running on a native operating system of the user device, such as IOS ^® or ANDROID ^® .

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the user devices are configured to communicate via the communication network, which may comprise any combination of local area and/or wide area networks, using both wired and/or wireless communication systems. In use, the communication network uses standard communications technologies and/or protocols. For example, the communication network includes communication links using technologies such as Ethernet, 802.11, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, 5G, code division multiple access (CDMA), digital subscriber line (DSL), etc. Examples of networking protocols used for communicating via the communication network include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), and file transfer protocol (FTP).

In use, data exchanged over the communication network may be represented using any suitable format, such as hypertext markup language (HTML) or extensible markup language (XML). In some embodiments, all or some of the communication links of the communication network may be encrypted using any suitable technique or techniques.

Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. The terms "comprising," "including," 'having," and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term "or" is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term "or" means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.

While there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of the instant invention it is to be appreciated that the invention may be embodied otherwise than is herein specifically shown and described and that, within said embodiment, certain changes may be made in the form and arrangement of the parts without departing from the underlying ideas or principles of this invention as set forth in the Claims appended herewith. Therefore, the appended claims are to be construed to cover all equivalents falling within the true scope and spirit of the invention.