ADDING SYNDICATION FEEDS TO CALENDAR DATA EXCHANGE ENABLED PROGRAMS

• US 20090019107A1
• Filed: 07/10/2007
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: STONER, CHRIS, LANCE, JOHN M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,280,984 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management

Abstract

The present invention discloses a solution for adding syndication feeds to calendar data exchange enabled programs, such as programs conforming to the iCalendar (iCal) standard. Default syndication feed links can be established by a publisher of iCalendar data. Subscribers of iCalendar data can replace default syndication feeds with feeds from other sources and/or add their own syndication feeds to a program that supports iCalendar data. Information obtained from the syndication feeds can be stored in a calendar entry indexed fashion, so that users accessing a iCalendar program can view information obtained from the syndication feeds as well as information related to an iCalendar subscription.

Claims

1. A method of handling syndication feed information comprising:

subscribing to a syndication feed;

binding the syndication feed to a calendar data item; and

presenting feed data in a calendar application proximate to a calendar item associated with the calendar data item, wherein the feed data is automatically obtained from the syndication feed.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifing a syndication reader integrated to a calendar application; and

the syndication reader automatically acquiring updates from a feed source in accordance with the feed subscription of the subscribing step, wherein the presented feed data comprises the acquired updates.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

subscribing to a calendar data exchange formatted calendar publication; and

presenting calendar data from the calendar publication in the calendar application.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the syndication feed is integrated into the calendar publication, and wherein calendar publication comprises the calendar data item.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the calendar publication is written in an iCalendar (iCal) based format, and wherein the syndication feed is at least one of a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and an ATOM feed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the syndication feed is bound to a calendar application entry, wherein the syndication feed once bound automatically updates the calendar entry without user intervention whenever the syndication feed updates feed data in accordance with a subscription of the subscribing step.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the calendar data item is associated with a calendar application entry, said binding step further comprising:

binding a user selected syndication feed to the calendar application entry using a calendar application tool.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a calendar event resulting from a user interaction with the calendar application, wherein said calendar data item is associated with a date/time, and wherein the user interaction also associated with the calendar date/time; and

automatically presenting the feed data responsive to the detected calendar event.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a feed update event for the syndication feed; and

automatically updating the feed data that is presented in the calendar application responsive to the feed update event

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the syndication feed is at least one of a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and an ATOM feed, and wherein the calendar data item is written in an iCalendar (iCal) based format.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said steps of claim 1 are steps performed automatically by at least one machine in accordance with at least one computer program having a plurality of code sections that are executable by the at least one machine, said at least one computer program being stored in a machine readable medium.

12. A calendar application stored in a machine readable medium comprising:

a feed reader configured to acquire syndication feed data from a feed source; and

a plurality of calendar entries managed by the calendar application, wherein at least one of the calendar entries is configured to be programmatically linked to the feed source which provides syndication feed data in accordance with a subscription so that feed data from the subscription is automatically placed in the calendar entry without user intervention whenever syndication feed updates are obtained by the feed reader.

13. The calendar application of claim 12, further comprising:

a calendar application interface tool for binding user specified syndication feeds to at least one of the calendar entries.

14. The calendar application of claim 12, further comprising:

a calendar data exchange engine configured to support an acquisition and publication of calendar data exchange formatted data, wherein at least one of the calendar entries comprises data processed by the calendar data exchange engine from a calendar data exchange formatted file.

15. The calendar application of claim 14, wherein the subscription from which the syndication feed data is acquired is specified in the calendar data exchange formatted file.

16. The calendar application of claim 15, wherein the calendar data exchange formatted file is a calendar publication obtained from a calendar source remotely located from a machine upon which the calendar application is stored and executed.

17. The calendar application of claim 14, wherein the syndication feed is at least one of a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and an ATOM feed, and wherein the calendar data exchange format is an iCalendar (iCal) compliant format.

18. A software interface comprising:

a plurality of calendar entry visual elements, each associated with a date/time within which editable information is able to be presented within the software interface;

a calendar data exchange import tool configured to automatically obtain calendar data from a calendar publication formatted in a calendar data exchange format, wherein calendar data obtained using the calendar data exchange import tool is automatically presented in one of the suitable calendar entry visual elements, wherein suitable visual elements for the calendar data are based upon matching date/time values of the calendar data with date/time values associated with the visual elements; and

a syndication feed establishment tool configured to bind a user specified syndication feed to one of the at least one calendar entry visual element, wherein after being bound, feed data obtained from the specified syndication feed is automatically placed in calendar entries to which the feed is bound without user intervention, wherein suitable visual elements for the calendar data.

19. The software interface of claim 18, wherein at least one syndication feed that is bound to calendar entry visual elements is specified by calendar data obtained using the calendar data exchange import tool.

20. The software interface of claim 18, wherein the software interface is an interface of a calendar application, and wherein the syndication feed is at least one of a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and an ATOM feed, and wherein the calendar data exchange format is an iCalendar (iCal) compliant format.