Techniques and systems for supporting podcasting

• US 20060265503A1
• Filed: 06/25/2005
• Published: 11/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Computer Incorporated (Apple Inc.)
• Inventors: Dowdy, Thomas, Davis, Stephen, Wiese, Mike, Robbin, Jeffrey, Jones, Anne
• Granted Patent: US 7,686,215 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Improved podcasts and techniques that facilitate their use are disclosed. The improved techniques can pertain to creating, publishing, hosting, accessing, subscribing, managing, transferring, and/or playing podcasts. According to one aspect, a client application can subscribe to podcasts and then automatically monitor the podcasts for updates to be downloaded. In the event that user interest in a podcast becomes inadequate, downloading of further updates can be restricted. According to another aspect, a podcast can be subscribed to through use of a portable subscription file. According to still another aspect, podcast feeds can be enhanced to include segment elements and other metadata.

Claims

1. A method for subscribing to a podcast, said method comprising:

receiving a portable subscription file that is used to facilitate subscribing to the podcast;

accessing the portable subscription file to obtain podcast information; and

subscribing to the podcast using the podcast information.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said accessing is performed once a user opens the portable subscription file.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein once the portable subscription file is accessed, the subscription to the podcast is automatic.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said accessing is initiated by a double-clicking action with respect to a user input device.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the portable subscription file is an XML document including at least a podcast feed URL.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein double-clicking on a displayed representation of the portable subscription file causes the accessing and said subscribing to be automatically performed.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the portable subscription file is received at a client computer, and

wherein said accessing and said subscribing are performed on a client application operating on the client computer.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the client application is a media management application

9. A computer readable medium including at least computer program code for subscribing to a podcast, said computer readable medium comprising:

computer program code for receiving a user selection of a portable subscription file that is used to facilitate subscribing to the podcast;

computer program code for launching a media management application in response to the user selection;

computer program code for parsing the portable subscription file to obtain podcast information; and

computer program code for subscribing to the podcast via the media management application using the podcast information.

10. A portable subscription file, comprising:

an application identifier; and

a network address for a podcast feed.

11. A portable subscription file as recited in claim 10, wherein said portable subscription file is not a podcast feed.

12. A portable subscription file as recited in claim 10, wherein an application identified by the application identifier is a media management application.

13. A portable subscription file as recited in claim 10, wherein the portable subscription file has a markup language format.

15. A portable subscription file as recited in claim 10, wherein the portable subscription file can be electronically transmitted through a data network to a recipient who can utilize the portable subscription file to subscribe to the podcast.

14. A portable subscription file as recited in claim 14, wherein the markup language format is an XML format.

16. A method for acquiring podcast information at a client application, the podcast information being acquired from a podcast hosting server via a network, said method comprises the acts of:

(a) accessing a podcast feed from the podcast hosting server via the network to acquire episode information for the podcast;

(b) determining one or more new episodes based on the acquired episode information;

(c) determining whether the podcast is still active at the client application; and

(d) receiving, at the client application, the one or more new episodes from the podcast hosting server over the network so long as said determining (c) determines that the podcast is still active at the client application.

17. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein the episode information includes identification information for a plurality of episodes for the podcast, and wherein the one or more new episodes are those of the episodes that are not already known to the client application.

18. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein the episode information includes identification information for a plurality of episodes for the podcast, and wherein the one or more new episodes are those of the episodes that are more recent in time than other episodes already known to the client application.

19. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein said determining (c) comprises:

(c1) maintaining one or more activity variables for the podcast at the client application; and

(c2) determining whether the podcast is still active based on the one or more activity variables.

20. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein the one or more activity variables include an episode download count for the podcast.

21. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein the one or more activity variables include a duration since a date of initial episode download or the date itself.

22. A method as recited in claim 21, wherein the duration is a number of days.

23. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein said determining (c) of whether the podcast is still active at the client application is based on whether a user of the client application has signaled interest in the podcast.

24. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein said determining (c) of whether the podcast is still active at the client application is based on whether a user of the client application has shown adequate interest in the podcast.

25. A method as recited in claim 24, wherein the client application has previously subscribed to the podcast for the user.

26. A computer readable medium including at least computer program code for acquiring digital multimedia asset information at a client application, the digital multimedia asset information being acquired from a digital multimedia asset hosting server via a network, said computer readable medium comprising:

computer program code for accessing a digital multimedia asset feed from the digital multimedia asset hosting server via the network to acquire episode information for the digital multimedia asset;

computer program code for determining one or more new episodes based on the acquired episode information;

computer program code for determining whether the client application or a user thereof has shown adequate interest in the digital multimedia asset; and

computer program code for receiving, at the client application, the one or more new episodes from the digital multimedia asset hosting server over the network so long as it is determined that the client application or a user thereof has shown adequate interest in the digital multimedia asset.

27. A podcast feed, comprising:

a plurality of segment elements, each of said segment elements including a segment link for a multimedia element and a time indication associated with said segment elements.

28. A podcast feed as recited in claim 27, wherein each of the segment elements of said podcast feed further comprises a segment title.

29. A podcast feed as recited in claim 27, wherein the time indication for each of said segment elements being a start time.

30. A podcast feed as recited in claim 29, wherein said podcast feed pertains to a podcast, and wherein at the start time the multimedia element is displayed by a client application that plays the podcast.

31. A podcast feed as recited in claim 27, wherein said podcast feed is an XML file, and wherein said segment elements are XML elements.

32. A podcast feed as recited in claim 27, wherein said podcast feed pertains to a podcast, wherein said segment elements pertain to chapters of the podcast.