UPDATED INFORMATION PROVISIONING

• US 20130054558A1
• Filed: 08/29/2011
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Raza, Mirza Muhammad, Chung, Wook Jin
• Application Number:
  US13/219,879
• Publication Number:
  US 20130054558A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/709
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

One or more techniques and/or systems are disclosed for providing, in an automated fashion, updated information to a user regarding a topic indicated as being of interest to the user. At a first point in time, a first request for updated information on a first topic indicated as being of interest to a user can be received, such as from a website or service to which the user is connected. First updated information for the first topic can be requested from a data store that comprises updated information on one or more topics indicated as being of interest to the user. If the data store comprises the first updated information, the first updated information can be returned to the sender of the request, at the first point in time, such that the user may be presented with fresh content regarding a topic known to be of interest to the user.

Claims

1. A method for providing updated information, comprising:

receiving, at a first point in time, a first request for updated information on a first topic indicated as being of interest to a user; and

returning, at the first point in time, first updated information on the first topic if found in a data store at least for the user, the data store comprising updated information on one or more topics indicated as being of interest to the user, at least some of at least one of the receiving and the returning implemented at least in part via a processing unit.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising one or more of:

returning, at a second point in time, second updated information on the first topic if found in the data store in response to receiving, at the second point in time, a second request for updated information on the first topic;

returning, at a third point in time, first updated information on a second topic indicated as being of interest to the user if found in the data store in response to receiving, at the third point in time, a first request for updated information on the second topic; and

returning, at a fourth point in time, second updated information on the second topic if found in the data store in response to receiving, at the fourth point in time, a second request for updated information on the second topic.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising one or more of:

updating the first updated information on the first topic into the data store at the first point in time or a time before the first point in time;

updating the second updated information on the first topic into the data store at the second point in time or a time before the second point in time;

updating the first updated information on the second topic into the data store at the third point in time or a time before the third point in time; and

updating the second updated information on the second topic into the data store at the fourth point in time or a time before the fourth point in time.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising updating the data store to comprise updated information by crawling one or more online network sites merely for content related to the one or more topics indicated as being of interest to the user.

5. The method of claim 1, the first updated information on the first topic comprising updated information obtained from online content related to the first topic from a topic update store, comprised in the data store, which stores updates for one or more online topics.

6. The method of claim 1, returning the first updated information on the first topic comprising one or more of:

matching the first topic to a stored user topic in the data store;

retrieving one or more updates for the first topic from a topic update store, comprised in the data store; and

updating the first topic with the one or more updates for the first topic resulting in the first updated information on the first topic.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising storing one or more topics indicated as being of interest to the user in the data store, the one or more stored topics comprising metadata associated with online content selected by the user.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising one or more of:

sorting metadata associated with online content selected by the user into one or more topic categories; and

storing sorted metadata in a corresponding portion of a topic data store for the respective one or more topic categories.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising crawling one or more online network sites for one or more updates to the metadata associated with the online content selected by the user.

10. The method of claim 8, comprising one or more of:

identifying a desired action associated with the sorted metadata;

identifying an application associated with the desired action; and

providing the sorted metadata to the identified application to perform the desired action.

11. The method of claim 1, receiving the first request comprising receiving one or more of:

a user identification for the user;

an identifier for the first topic indicated as being of interest to the user;

a sender identification for a sender of the request; and

a universal resource identifier for responding to the request.

12. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving the first request in response to the user connecting to an online network site comprising a connection to a sender of the request.

13. A system for providing updated information, comprising:

a computer-based processor configured to process data for the system;

a user topic data store component, operably coupled with the processor, configured to;

identify a first user selected topic in response to a first request for up-to-date topic information for the user; and

return first up-to-date information on the first user selected topic in response to the first request; and

an updated topic data store component, operably coupled with the user topic data store component, configured to provide the first up-to-date information on the first user selected topic to the user topic data store component based on a first query from the user topic data store component.

14. The system of claim 13, the updated topic data store component configured to provide one or more of:

second up-to-date information on the first user selected topic based on a second query from the user topic data store component, the second query in response to a second request for up-to-date topic information for the user;

first up-to-date information on a second user selected topic based on a third query from the user topic data store component, the third query in response to a third request for up-to-date topic information for the user; and

second up-to-date information on the second user selected topic based on a fourth query from the user topic data store component, the fourth query in response to a fourth request for up-to-date topic information for the user.

15. The system of claim 13, comprising a user selected topic saving component configured to perform one or more of:

determine when a user selects a topic;

identify an indication of the user selecting the topic indicative of the topic being of interest to the user; and

forward the user selected topic to an intelligent storage component.

16. The system of claim 15, comprising a topic storage component configured to selectively store metadata associated with the topic in category data stores for one or more topic categories.

17. The system of claim 16, the intelligent storage component configured to perform one or more of:

categorize the topic into one or more topic categories to facilitate the selective metadata storage; and

forward the topic to the user topic data store component to populate the user topic data store.

18. The system of claim 13, comprising an updating component configured to crawl one or more online network sites for one or more updates for one or more user selected topics to populate the updated topic data store component.

19. The system of claim 13, comprising an updated information integration component configured to integrate the first up-to-date information on the first user selected topic into content from a sender of the first request.

20. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that when executed via a processing unit on a computer perform a method for providing updated information, comprising:

storing one or more topics indicated as being of interest to a user in a data store;

updating the one or more stored topics in the data store with updated information by crawling one or more online network sites merely for online content related to the one or more topics indicated as being of interest to the user;

receiving, at a first point in time, a first request for updated information on a first topic indicated as being of interest to a user;

returning, at the first point in time, first updated information on the first topic if found in the data store;

receiving, at a second point in time, a second request for updated information on the first topic;

returning, at the second point in time, second updated information on the first topic if found in the data store;

receiving, at a third point in time, a first request for updated information on a second topic indicated as being of interest to the user;

returning, at the third point in time, first updated information on the second topic if found in the data store, the third point in time being the same or different than the first point in time and being the same or different than the second point in time;

receiving, at a fourth point in time, a second request for updated information on the second topic; and

returning, at the fourth point in time, second updated information on the second topic if found in the data store, the fourth point in time being the same or different than the first point in time and being the same or different than the second point in time.