News feed browser

• US 20060253489A1
• Filed: 03/27/2006
• Published: 11/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Albert Riley Howard Jr., Donald Dale Melton, Gregory N. Christie, Jens Alfke, Jessica Kahn, Sarah Anne Wilkin, Scott James Forstall, Stephen O. Lemay, Steven P. Jobs, Wayne Russell Loofbourrow
• Original Assignee: Albert Riley Howard Jr., Donald Dale Melton, Gregory N. Christie, Jens Alfke, Jessica Kahn, Sarah Anne Wilkin, Scott James Forstall, Stephen O. Lemay, Steven P. Jobs, Wayne Russell Loofbourrow
• Inventors: Alfke, Jens, Lemay, Stephen O., Kahn, Jessica, Christie, Gregory N., Wilkin, Sarah Anne, Melton, Donald Dale, Forstall, Scott James, Jobs, Steven P., Howard, Albert Riley Jr., Loofbourrow, Wayne Russell
• Granted Patent: US 8,060,830 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/943 News

Abstract

Techniques for detecting, managing, and presenting syndication XML (feeds) are disclosed. In one embodiment, a web browser automatically determines that a web site is publishing feeds and notifies the user, who can then access the feed easily. In another embodiment, a browser determines that a web page or feed is advertising relationship XML, and displays information about the people identified in the relationship XML. In yet another embodiment, a browser determines that a file contains a feed and enables the user to view it in a user-friendly way. In yet another embodiment, feed state information is stored in a repository that is accessible by applications that are used to view the feed. In yet another embodiment, if a feed'"'"'s state changes, an application notifies the repository, and the state is updated. In yet another embodiment, a feed is parsed and stored in a structured way.

Claims

1. A user interface for enabling a user to switch between displaying a file and displaying a feed related to the file, the user interface comprising a content area, and wherein the user interface has a first state and a second state, and wherein when the user interface is in the first state, the content area displays the file, and wherein when the user interface is in the second state, the content area displays the feed.

2. The user interface of claim 1, further comprising an on-screen control, wherein activating the on-screen control when the user interface is in the first state causes the user interface to switch to the second state, and wherein activating the on-screen control when the user interface is in the second state causes the user interface to switch to the first state.

3. The user interface of claim 2, wherein an appearance of the on-screen control varies based on whether the user interface is in the first state or in the second state.

4. The user interface of claim 1, wherein displaying the feed related to the file comprises displaying a feed, wherein a portion of the feed'"'"'s contents are equivalent to a portion of the file'"'"'s contents.

5. The user interface of claim 1, wherein the file comprises a web page.

6. The user interface of claim 5, wherein the web page includes a link to the feed.

7. The user interface of claim 1, wherein displaying the feed comprises displaying a secondary window that displays the feed.

8. The user interface of claim 7, wherein the secondary window is animated so that it appears to unroll over the content area.

9. The user interface of claim 1, wherein displaying the file comprises causing a secondary window to be removed.

10. The user interface of claim 9, wherein causing the secondary window to be removed comprises animating the secondary window so that so that it appears to roll up and reveal the content area.

11. A computer-implemented method for discovering a feed, the method comprising:

receiving a request to display a file;

determining that the file includes relationship XML;

determining that a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) within the relationship XML indicates a file that comprises the feed; and

displaying one of a group containing the feed and a link to the feed.

12. A computer-implemented method for displaying a feed, the method comprising:

receiving a request to display a file;

determining that the file includes a feed; and

invoking a software application to display the feed.

13. A computer-implemented method for displaying a feed, the method comprising:

receiving a request to display a file;

determining that the file includes a feed; and

displaying the feed.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein displaying the feed comprises generating a web page that includes the feed.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein generating the web page that includes the feed comprises using one of a group containing a template file and a format file.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the template file specifies which content of the feed is to be included in the web page.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the format file specifies how content of the feed is to be displayed by the web page.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein a value of an attribute of the file does not indicate that the file includes the feed.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the attribute comprises one of a group containing content type, filename extension, and Uniform Resource Locator (URL) scheme.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising modifying the value of the attribute of the file that does not indicate that the file includes the feed.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein determining that the file includes the feed comprises determining that the file includes syndication XML.

22. A system for managing a feed, the system comprising:

a data repository configured to store the feed and state information regarding the feed; and

a software application configured to display the feed,

wherein the data repository and the software application are communicatively coupled.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein state information regarding the feed comprises one of a group containing whether the feed has been bookmarked, whether the feed has been subscribed to, and how the feed should be displayed.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein state information regarding the feed comprises state information regarding an article of the feed.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein state information regarding the article of the feed comprises one of a group containing whether the article has been read and whether the article has been flagged.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the data repository is further configured to store information specific to a plurality of users.

27. A computer program product for displaying a feed, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium, the computer-readable medium comprising:

program code for receiving a request to display a file;

program code for determining that the file includes a feed; and

program code for displaying the feed.