The full patent record behind Sam Lessin's work — Facebook/Meta (Timeline, claims-based profiles, ideograms/emoji, beacons), Venmo's original trust graph, Fin's AI-assistant architecture, and the teenage LifeCapital income-share filing. 81 documents in total: patents, published applications, and provisionals. Each entry links to Google Patents, live legal status, and forward-citation counts.
Runs sentiment analysis on a message you're composing and suggests matching ideograms — i.e., predictive emoji. Apple alone has cited it 85 times; it's prior art sitting under predictive emoji and Memoji-style features that shipped in iOS QuickType roughly two years after filing.
Animoji/Memoji territory: Apple 23, Facebook 20, Snap 9. Still active and owned by Meta — the strongest "someone else built on it" signal in the whole portfolio.
Computing creditworthiness for P2P transactions from a social/trust network, filed by Lessin, Kortina and Magdon-Ismail. Never granted, but cited into a decade of social-credit and identity-trust filings — including Square's Cash App (8 citations) referencing Venmo's founding filing.
The structured life-events layer underneath Timeline. Facebook kept citing this in its own later filings for years — a clean example of IP that actually shipped and stayed load-bearing internally.
ZeroFox (the ~$1B-scale social-media-security company) alone cites this 14 times, plus Proofpoint — a chunk of the external-threat-protection category traces back to this filing. Meta let it lapse.
A teenage income-share-agreement filing, pre-dating Drop.io by years. Cited by JPMorgan Chase and by Jeff Fluhr (StubHub founder) in his own later patent work.
Summed from each document's top-cited-by list (Google Patents surfaces roughly the top 6 citers per document, so this undercounts true totals — e.g. Apple's per-document count here is 171, vs. ~179 in the full per-document read-through).
| Document | Title | Assignee | Status | Cited By | Top Citers | Family |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 09/930,313 / US2002/0133445A1 | Methods and apparatuses for an online personal funding marketplace | LifeCapital (sole inventor, pre-Drop.io) | Abandoned | 20 | Metabank (6); Jpmorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (2); Jeff Fluhr (1); Freund Peter C. (1); Mahmoud Shahbodaghi (1); Andrew Frederick Knight (1) | Personal funding marketplace |
| 60/275,974 | Online personal funding marketplace (provisional) | LifeCapital | Provisional | — | Personal funding marketplace | |
| 60/291,226 | Online personal funding marketplace (provisional #2) | LifeCapital | Provisional | — | Personal funding marketplace | |
| 61/283,347 | Trust based transaction system (provisional) | Venmo | Provisional | — | Venmo trust graph | |
| US 12/959,254 / US2011/0137789A1 | Trust Based Transaction System | Venmo Inc. | Abandoned | 158 | Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (18); Bank Of America Corporation (14); T Stamp Inc. (9); Square, Inc. (8); Mastercard International Incorporated (5); Elwha Llc (5) | Venmo trust graph |
| US2017/0124645A1 | Trust based transaction system | PayPal, Inc. (via Venmo/Braintree) | Abandoned | 158 | Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (17); Bank Of America Corporation (14); T Stamp Inc. (9); Square, Inc. (8); Mastercard International Incorporated (5) | Venmo trust graph |
| US9946430 | Displaying social networking system user information via a timeline interface | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 56 | Facebook, Inc. (10); Snap Inc. (8); Apple Inc. (4); International Business Machines Corporation (2) | Timeline (filed Sep 21, 2011) |
| US8832560 | Displaying social networking system user information via a historical newsfeed | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 59 | Facebook, Inc. (12); Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (7); Google Llc (4) | Timeline |
| US9767205 | Displaying social networking system user information via a historical newsfeed | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 59 | Facebook, Inc. (11); Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (7); Google Llc (4) | Timeline |
| US9773284 | Displaying social networking system user information via a map interface | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 44 | Snap Inc. (9); Dropbox, Inc. (7); Facebook, Inc. (6) | Timeline |
| US8887035 | Capturing structured data about previous events from users | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 87 | Facebook, Inc. (29); Google Inc. (10); Snap Inc. (9); International Business Machines Corporation (5); Meta Platforms, Inc. (5) | Timeline |
| US9923981 | Capturing structured data about previous events from users | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 86 | Facebook, Inc. (29); Google Inc. (10); Snap Inc. (8); International Business Machines Corporation (5); Meta Platforms, Inc. (5) | Timeline |
| US10296159 | Displaying dynamic user interface elements in a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 55 | Touchcast LLC (12); Facebook, Inc. (8); Touchcast, Inc. (3); Airbnb, Inc. (3) | Timeline |
| US10908765 | Displaying dynamic user interface elements in a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 55 | Touchcast LLC (12); Facebook, Inc. (8); Touchcast, Inc. (3); Airbnb, Inc. (3) | Timeline |
| CA2847496C | Displaying user info via a timeline (Canada) | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 56 | Facebook, Inc. (10); Snap Inc. (8); Apple Inc. (4) | Timeline |
| US8756278 | Audience management in a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 53 | Facebook, Inc. (8); Google Inc. (6); International Business Machines Corporation (6); 腾讯科技（深圳）有限公司 (5) | Audience mgmt (Jul 2011) |
| US9215289 | Audience management in a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 53 | Facebook, Inc. (8); Google Inc. (7); 腾讯科技（深圳）有限公司 (5); International Business Machines Corporation (5) | Audience mgmt |
| US10325323 | Providing a claims-based profile in a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 20 | Linkedin Corporation (3); International Business Machines Corporation (2); Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (2) | Claims-based profile (Apr 2012) |
| US2013/0282810A1 | Evaluating claims in a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Abandoned | 46 | Sailpoint Technologies, Inc. (10); Facebook, Inc. (4); Google Llc (3) | Claims-based profile |
| CA2869670C | Evaluating claims in a social networking system (Canada, granted) | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 46 | Sailpoint Technologies, Inc. (10); Facebook, Inc. (5); Google Llc (3) | Claims-based profile |
| US2013/0282812A1 | Adaptive audiences for claims in a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Abandoned | 26 | Jacob Andrew Brill (1); Apple Inc. (1); Isaac Lay (1) | Claims-based profile |
| US2013/0282813A1 | Collaborative management of contacts across multiple platforms | Facebook, Inc. | Abandoned | 20 | Apple Inc. (5); Box, Inc. (2); Facebook, Inc. (2) | Claims-based profile |
| US9978106 | Managing copyrights of content for sharing on a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 21 | Facebook, Inc. (5); International Business Machines Corporation (2); Uber Technologies, Inc. (2) | Claims-based profile |
| US9256621 | Claims-based querying in an online system | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 11 | Adobe Inc. (10); The Toronto-Dominion Bank (1) | Claims-based profile |
| US9201836 | Export permissions in a claims-based social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 5 | Linkedin Corporation (3); Cellco Partnership D/B/A Verizon Wireless (1) | Claims-based profile |
| US10445771 | Export permissions in a claims-based social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 5 | Linkedin Corporation (3); Cellco Partnership D/B/A Verizon Wireless (1) | Claims-based profile |
| US2014/0100965A1 | Advertising permissions in a claims-based social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Abandoned | 2 | Yahoo Japan Corporation (1); QuikBreak (1) | Claims-based profile |
| US9436687 | Acquiring structured user data using composer interface | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 39 | Apple Inc. (19); Ebay Inc. (3) | Composer (Jul 2012) |
| US10534821 | Acquiring structured user data using composer interface | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 39 | Apple Inc. (19); Ebay Inc. (3) | Composer |
| US10277642 | Composer interface for providing content to a social network | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 2 | Facebook, Inc. (1); International Business Machines Corporation (1) | Composer |
| US8732802 | Receiving information about a user from a third party application | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 34 | Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (10); Facebook, Inc. (6); Cassia Networks Inc. (4) | 3rd-party apps (Aug 2012) |
| CA2877825C | Receiving information about a user from a third party application (Canada) | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 34 | Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (10); Facebook, Inc. (6); Cassia Networks Inc. (4) | 3rd-party apps |
| US2014/0040367A1 | Publishing aggregated data to a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Abandoned | 15 | Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (8); Sean Michael Bruich (1) | 3rd-party apps |
| US8938411 | Inferring user family connections from social information | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 12 | Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (5); Facebook, Inc. (1) | Family inference (Aug 2012) |
| US9131019 | Prompting users to provide additional user profile information | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 17 | Linkedin Corporation (5); Facebook, Inc. (4); Virgil Bourassa (1) | Profile prompts (Nov 2012) |
| US8959211 | Prompting users in a newsfeed to provide additional profile info | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 16 | Facebook, Inc. (5); Linkedin Corporation (3) | Profile prompts |
| US9491207 | Prompting users to provide additional user profile information | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 17 | Linkedin Corporation (5); Facebook, Inc. (4); Virgil Bourassa (1) | Profile prompts |
| US9514192 | Prompting users in a newsfeed (continuation) | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 16 | Facebook, Inc. (5); Linkedin Corporation (3) | Profile prompts |
| US9774559 | Prompting users in a newsfeed (continuation) | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 16 | Facebook, Inc. (5); Linkedin Corporation (3) | Profile prompts |
| US9774641 | Prompting users to provide additional profile info (continuation) | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 17 | Linkedin Corporation (5); Facebook, Inc. (4); Virgil Bourassa (1) | Profile prompts |
| US10325287 | Advertising based on user trends in an online system | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 16 | Facebook, Inc. (4); Highspot, Inc. (2); Bounta LLC (1) | Ads (Nov 2012) |
| US2014/0143048A1 | Audience-based pricing in an online system | Facebook, Inc. | Abandoned | 7 | Google Inc. (2); Fujifilm North America Corporation (1) | Ads |
| US2014/0143058A1 | Sponsoring venues for targeting a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Abandoned | 12 | Groupon, Inc. (2); Verizon Patent And Licensing Inc. (1) | Ads |
| US9262610 | Imposter account detection and remediation | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 45 | Zerofox, Inc. (14); International Business Machines Corporation (6); El Toro.Com, Llc (6); Proofpoint, Inc. (3) | Imposter detection (Jan 2013) |
| US9762588 | Imposter account detection and remediation | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 45 | Zerofox, Inc. (14); El Toro.Com, Llc (6); International Business Machines Corporation (6) | Imposter detection |
| US2014/0283126A1 | Managing privacy for user-generated lists in an online system | Facebook, Inc. | Abandoned | 3 | パイオニア株式会社 (1); Rovi Guides, Inc. (1) | 2013 misc |
| US2014/0280560A1 | Capturing user information based on real-world actions | Facebook, Inc. | Abandoned | 0 | 2013 misc | |
| US9781218 | Managing information about user states in a social networking system | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 5 | At&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. (2); Facebook, Inc. (1) | 2013 misc |
| US9798832 | Dynamic ranking of user cards | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 10 | Facebook, Inc. (3); Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (2) | User cards (prov 61/918,431 Dec 2013) |
| US10592558 | User-card interfaces | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 10 | Facebook, Inc. (3); Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (2) | User cards |
| US10334064 | Implicit contacts in an online social network | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 11 | Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (3); Facebook, Inc. (1) | User cards |
| US9794359 | Implicit contacts in an online social network | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 11 | Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (3); Facebook, Inc. (1) | User cards |
| US10917485 | Implicit contacts in an online social network | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 11 | Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (3); Facebook, Inc. (1) | User cards |
| US10120909 | Generating cards in response to user actions | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 36 | Slack Technologies, Inc. (5); Facebook, Inc. (3); Meta Platforms, Inc. (2); Salesforce, Inc. (2) | User cards |
| US10050926 | Ideograms based on sentiment analysis | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 167 | Apple Inc. (78); International Business Machines Corporation (12); Apple Inc (7); Bank Of America Corporation (6); Google Llc (5) | Ideograms (Feb 2014) |
| US10013601 | Ideograms for captured expressions | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 92 | Apple Inc. (23); Facebook, Inc. (20); Snap Inc. (9); AebeZe Labs (4) | Ideograms |
| US9515968 | Controlling access to ideograms | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 42 | International Business Machines Corporation (5); Facebook, Inc. (5); Google Llc (5); Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (3); Safe Kids LLC (3) | Ideograms |
| US9749334 | Controlling access to ideograms | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 42 | International Business Machines Corporation (5); Facebook, Inc. (5); Google Llc (5) | Ideograms |
| US10009352 | Controlling access to ideograms | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 42 | International Business Machines Corporation (5); Facebook, Inc. (5); Google Llc (5) | Ideograms |
| US9729667 | Generating user notifications using beacons | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 50 | Facebook, Inc. (6); Apple Inc. (5); International Business Machines Corporation (3); Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (3) | Beacons (Dec 2014) |
| US11153728 | Generating user notifications using beacons | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 50 | Facebook, Inc. (6); Apple Inc. (5); Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (3) | Beacons |
| US10382916 | Generating user notifications using beacons | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 50 | Facebook, Inc. (6); Apple Inc. (5); Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc (3); Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (3) | Beacons |
| US9692838 | Generating business insights using beacons | Facebook, Inc. | Active | 11 | Facebook, Inc. (2); Snap Inc. (1); L'oreal (1) | Beacons |
| US10917481 | Generating business insights using beacons | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 11 | Facebook, Inc. (2); Philip Ti-Fei Su (1); Apple Inc. (1) | Beacons |
| US9729643 | Customizing third-party content using beacons | Facebook, Inc. | Expired - Fee Related | 26 | Facebook, Inc. (6); Apple Inc. (2); Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (1) | Beacons |
| 61/918,431 | User cards / implicit contacts (provisional) | Facebook, Inc. | Provisional | — | User cards | |
| US10560413 | Systems and methods associated with collective contact information | The Fin Exploration Company | Expired - Fee Related | 10 | Optx Solutions, Llc (9); The Fin Exploration Company (1) | Collective address book (Jan 2017) |
| US10212105 | Collective address book system | The Fin Exploration Company | Active | 2 | The Fin Exploration Company (1); First Susbea Ltd (1) | Collective address book |
| US10554592 | Collective address book system | The Fin Exploration Company | Expired - Fee Related | 2 | The Fin Exploration Company (1); First Susbea Ltd (1) | Collective address book |
| US2019/0132266A1 | Collective address book system | The Fin Exploration Company | Granted | 2 | The Fin Exploration Company (1); First Susbea Ltd (1) | Collective address book |
| US2018/0285765A1 | Identifying user-specific values for entity attributes | The Fin Exploration Company | Abandoned | 2 | Iocurrents, Inc. (1); Georgetown Software House, Inc. (1) | Entity attributes (Mar 2017) |
| US2019/0034474A1 | Resolving inconsistencies in information graphs | The Fin Exploration Company | Abandoned | 2 | Iocurrents, Inc. (1); Georgetown Software House, Inc. (1) | Information graphs (Jul 2018) |
| 62/630,168 | Virtual personal assistant (provisional) | The Fin Exploration Company | Provisional | — | Virtual personal assistant | |
| US2019/0251490A1 + WO2019/160631 | Virtual personal assistant systems and methods | The Fin Exploration Company | Abandoned | 1 | Saasglue Llc (1) | Virtual personal assistant |
| 62/653,415 | Resource allocation (provisional) | The Fin Exploration Company | Provisional | — | Resource allocation | |
| US2019/0310888A1 + WO2019/194868 | Allocating resources in response to estimated completion times | The Fin Exploration Company | Abandoned | 9 | Nice Ltd. (2); Walmart Apollo, Llc (2); Salesforce.Com, Inc. (1) | Resource allocation |
| US2022/0318319A1 | Focus events | Fin Analytics era | Abandoned | 3 | Jpmorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (1); The Fin Exploration Company (1); Autodesk, Inc. (1) | Work analytics |
| 63/177,231 | User support interaction analytics (provisional) | Fin Analytics era | Provisional | — | Work analytics | |
| US2022/0335438A1 | Retaining user value through user support interaction analytics | Fin Analytics era | Abandoned | 1 | Servicenow, Inc. (1) | Work analytics |
| US2022/0365861A1 | Automated actions based on ranked work events | Fin Analytics era | Abandoned | 6 | Venn Technology Corporation (2); Nice Ltd. (1); Grammarly, Inc. (1); Verint Americas Inc. (1) | Work analytics |
| US2022/0366348A1 + WO2022/240537 | Determining true utilization | Fin Analytics era | Abandoned | 2 | Merico, Inc. (1); The Strategic Coach Inc. (1) | Work analytics |
*Citation counts are per-document; family-member/continuation siblings largely share the same citers (e.g. a patent and its continuation both showing ~87), so the raw portfolio total meaningfully double-counts across families — read the per-invention highlights above rather than the sum as the true signal. Status and citation data are point-in-time from a Google Patents scrape and will drift as filings lapse or accrue new citations. Provisional applications are never published by the USPTO, so no public link or claim text exists for them.