Recursive Subscriptions to Content Feeds

• US 20080086755A1
• Filed: 10/09/2007
• Published: 04/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gonsalves, Carl Laurence, Haugh, Justin Christopher, Darnell, Benjamin G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,607 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/105
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6547 comprising parameters, e.g. for client setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

At a client device, a user subscribes to a specified stream, where the specified stream includes one or more other streams. A respective stream of the one or more other streams includes two or more content feeds, and each content feed includes a set of content items published by a respective publication source. The client devices presents to the user (e.g., on a display of the client device) content items associated with the specified stream. In some embodiments, streams can be recursively defined to include combinations of other streams, and users who subscribe to a recursively defined stream receive content items from the content feeds associated with that stream.

Claims

1. A method of providing content, comprising:

at a client device;

subscribing a user of the client device to a specified stream, wherein the specified stream comprises one or more other streams, wherein a respective stream of the one or more other streams comprises two or more content feeds, and wherein each content feed comprises a set of content items published by a respective publication source; and

presenting to the user content items associated with the specified stream.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective stream has an associated identifier that includes a user name and a label, wherein the user name corresponds to a user other than the user of the client device and the label comprises a label assigned by the other user to the respective stream.

3. The method of claim 1, including presenting to the user a stream identifier for the respective stream of the one or more other streams, the stream identifier including a user name and a label, wherein the user name identifies a user other than the user of the client device and the label comprises a label assigned by the other user to the respective stream.

4. A method of providing content, comprising:

at a first client device, in response to instructions from a first user, applying a first label to a first stream comprising a second stream and a third stream, the second stream comprising one or more content feeds to which a second client device applied a second label, the third stream comprising one or more content feeds to which a third client device applied a third label; and

at the first client device, presenting to the first user a sequence of content items for the first stream, the sequence comprising content items associated with the second stream and the third stream.

5. The method of claim 4, further including, at the first client device, presenting to the first user a first stream identifier for the second stream and a second stream identifier for the third stream, the first stream identifier including a name of a second user and the second label, the second stream identifier including a name of a third user and the third label.

6. The method of claim 4, further including, at a fourth client device, subscribing to the first stream in response to instructions from a fourth user, and presenting to the fourth user content items for the first stream.

7. The method of claim 4, further including, at the first client device, in response to instructions from the first user, performing an action to make the first stream available for subscription by other users.

8. A client device for presenting content to a user, comprising:

memory;

a display;

one or more processors; and

one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including;

instructions for subscribing a user of the client device to a specified stream, wherein the specified stream comprises one or more other streams, wherein a respective stream of the one or more other streams comprises two or more content feeds, and wherein each content feed comprises a set of content items published by a respective publication source; and

instructions for presenting on the display to the user content items associated with the specified stream.

9. A computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by a client device remotely located from a server system, the one or more programs comprising:

instructions for subscribing a user of the client device to a specified stream, wherein the specified stream comprises one or more other streams, wherein a respective stream of the one or more other streams comprises two or more content feeds, and wherein each content feed comprises a set of content items published by a respective publication source; and

instructions for presenting to the user, on a display of the client device, content items associated with the specified stream.

10. A client device for presenting content to a user, comprising:

means for subscribing a user of the client device to a specified stream, wherein the specified stream comprises one or more other streams, wherein a respective stream of the one or more other streams comprises two or more content feeds, and wherein each content feed comprises a set of content items published by a respective publication source; and

means for presenting to the user content items associated with the specified stream.

11. A method of serving content items from content feeds to a plurality of users, comprising:

for each respective stream of a plurality of streams, storing subscription data indicating users of the plurality of users who have subscribed to the respective stream, and storing user label data indicating labels, if any, that respective users have applied to the respective stream, wherein a first stream of the plurality of streams, subscribed to by a first user, has a label applied by the first user and comprises a second stream having a second label applied by a second user and a third stream having a third label applied by a third user, wherein the second stream and the third stream each comprise one or more content feeds, and wherein each content feed comprises a set of content items published by a respective publication source; and

transmitting to a client device of the first user a list of content items of the first stream.

12. The method of claim 11, including storing for the first stream a stream name that includes a name of the first user and the label applied by the first user.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the second stream and the third stream each comprise two or more content feeds, wherein each content feed comprises a set of content items published by a respective publication source.

14. A system for serving content, located remotely from a client device, comprising:

memory;

one or more processors; and

one or more programs stored in the memory and configured for execution by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including;

instructions to store, for each respective stream of a plurality of streams, subscription data indicating users of the plurality of users who have subscribed to the respective stream, and to store user label data indicating labels, if any, that respective users have applied to the respective stream, wherein a first stream of the plurality of streams, subscribed to by a first user, has a label applied by the first user and comprises a second stream having a second label applied by a second user and a third stream having a third label applied by a third user, wherein the second stream and the third stream each comprise one or more content feeds, and wherein each content feed comprises a set of content items published by a respective publication source; and

instructions to transmit to a client device of the first user a list of content items of the first stream.

15. A computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by a server computer system remotely located from a client device, the one or more programs comprising:

instructions to store, for each respective stream of a plurality of streams, subscription data indicating users of the plurality of users who have subscribed to the respective stream, and to store user label data indicating labels, if any, that respective users have applied to the respective stream, wherein a first stream of the plurality of streams, subscribed to by a first user, has a label applied by the first user and comprises a second stream having a second label applied by a second user and a third stream having a third label applied by a third user, wherein the second stream and the third stream each comprise one or more content feeds, and wherein each content feed comprises a set of content items published by a respective publication source; and

instructions to transmit to a client device of the first user a list of content items of the first stream.

16. A system for serving content, located remotely from a client device, comprising:

means for storing, for each respective stream of a plurality of streams, subscription data indicating users of the plurality of users who have subscribed to the respective stream, and for storing user label data indicating labels, if any, that respective users have applied to the respective stream, wherein a first stream of the plurality of streams, subscribed to by a first user, has a label applied by the first user and comprises a second stream having a second label applied by a second user and a third stream having a third label applied by a third user, wherein the second stream and the third stream each comprise one or more content feeds, and wherein each content feed comprises a set of content items published by a respective publication source; and

means for transmitting to a client device of the first user a list of content items of the first stream.