Techniques for populating a content stream on a mobile device

Abstract

Techniques for populating a content stream of a mobile application are described. Consistent with some embodiments, the delays associated with waiting for a server to respond to a user's manual request for content items are eliminated by using various sensors of a mobile computing device to predict when a user is likely to view a personalized content stream. Accordingly, a background process identifies when certain conditions are satisfied, and an automatic content request is communicated to a content server, such that content items for presentation to a member of a social networking service are pre-fetched.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method comprising:
 incorporating one or more modules into a client device, the one or more modules configuring one or more processors of the client device to perform operations comprising:   determining a context of a user based on location data associated with the client device and activity data associated with the client device;   anticipating a time at which a user will attempt to view a content stream on the client device based on the context;   initiating a process to synchronize the content stream on the client device with a content stream on a server device based on the context and the anticipated time; and   based on the user attempting to view the content stream on the client device at the time or a later time, presenting the synchronized content stream to the user on the client device.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the anticipating of the time at which the user will attempt to view the content stream on the client device based on the context includes analyzing the context in comparison to previous contexts of the user that preceded previous attempts by the user to view the content stream on the client device. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising determining a minimum time it will take to complete the synchronizing of the content stream on the client device with the content stream on the server device and wherein the initiating of the process to synchronize the content stream on the client device is performed the time at which the user will attempt to view the content stream by at least the minimum amount of time that it will take to complete the synchronizing. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the synchronizing of the content stream on the client device with the content stream on the server device includes filtering content items based on the context. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the context is a work context and the filtering of the content stream based on the context includes filtering content items that are inappropriate for the work context. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , further comprising determining that content items are not appropriate for the work context based on the content items pertaining to job postings from a company that is not currently employing the user. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising determining that the content items are inappropriate for the context based on mappings of types of content items to contexts provided by the user. 
     
     
         28 . A system comprising:
 one or more processors;   one or more modules incorporated into a client device, the one or more modules configuring the one or more processors to, at least:   incorporate one or more modules into a client device, the one or more modules configuring one or more processors of the client device to perform operations comprising:   determine a context of a user based on location data associated with the client device and activity data associated with the client device;   anticipate a time at which a user will attempt to view a content stream on the client device based on the context;   initiate a process to synchronize the content stream on the client device with a content stream on a server device based on the context and the anticipated time; and   based on the user attempting to view the content stream on the client device at the time or a later time, present the synchronized content stream to the user on the client device.   
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the anticipating of the time at which the user will attempt to view the content stream on the client device based on the context includes analyzing the context in comparison to previous contexts of the user that preceded previous attempts by the user to view the content stream on the client device. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 28 , further comprising determining a minimum time it will take to complete the synchronizing of the content stream on the client device with the content stream on the server device and wherein the initiating of the process to synchronize the content stream on the client device is performed the time at which the user will attempt to view the content stream by at least the minimum amount of time that it will take to complete the synchronizing. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the synchronizing of the content stream on the client device with the content stream on the server device includes filtering content items based on the context. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the context is a work context and the filtering of the content stream based on the context includes filtering content items that are inappropriate for the work context. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 32 , further comprising determining that content items are not appropriate for the work context based on the content items pertaining to job postings from a company that is not currently employing the user. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 31 , further comprising determining that the content items are inappropriate for the context based on mappings of types of content items to contexts provided by the user. 
     
     
         35 . A non-transitory machine readable medium embodying a set of instructions that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 incorporating one or more modules into a client device, the one or more modules configuring one or more processors of the client device to perform operations comprising:   determining a context of a user based on location data associated with the client device and activity data associated with the client device;   anticipating a time at which a user will attempt to view a content stream on the client device based on the context;   initiating a process to synchronize the content stream on the client device with a content stream on a server device based on the context and the anticipated time; and   based on the user attempting to view the content stream on the client device at the time or a later time, presenting the synchronized content stream to the user on the client device.   
     
     
         36 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 35 , wherein the anticipating of the time at which the user will attempt to view the content stream on the client device based on the context includes analyzing the context in comparison to previous contexts of the user that preceded previous attempts by the user to view the content stream on the client device. 
     
     
         37 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 35 , further comprising determining a minimum time it will take to complete the synchronizing of the content stream on the client device with the content stream on the server device and wherein the initiating of the process to synchronize the content stream on the client device is performed the time at which the user will attempt to view the content stream by at least the minimum amount of time that it will take to complete the synchronizing. 
     
     
         38 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 35 , wherein the synchronizing of the content stream on the client device with the content stream on the server device includes filtering content items based on the context. 
     
     
         39 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 38 , wherein the context is a work context and the filtering of the content stream based on the context includes filtering content items that are inappropriate for the work context. 
     
     
         40 . The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 39 , further comprising determining that content items are not appropriate for the work context based on the content items pertaining to job postings from a company that is not currently employing the user.