COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING INTERNAL CUSTOM FEED ITEMS

• US 20170103127A1
• Filed: 12/21/2016
• Published: 04/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: HANSON, Timothy Scott, THAXTON, Carter Jon
• Granted Patent: US 11,314,821 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, apparatus, and methods for presenting feed items in an information feed. In various implementations, a first result object is received, where the first result object is a data structure including a result of a feed query, where the result of the feed query includes at least one feed item to be included in the information feed, and where the at least one feed item has a first presentation. In various implementations, at least one custom object associated with the at least one feed item is received, where the at least one custom object provides a second presentation of the at least one feed item. In some implementations, the at least one custom object is included with the first result object to define an intermediary data structure. In some implementations, the intermediary data structure is stored on one or more storage mediums.

Claims

1. A method for tracking updates to a record stored in a database system, comprising:

receiving a request to update a record for an information feed;

updating the record based on the request;

generating a feed update identifying the update to the record;

adding the feed update to a feed of the record;

identifying followers of the record; and

adding the feed update to news feeds for the followers of the record.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second request to update a child object of the record;

updating the child object based on the second request;

generating a second feed update identifying the update to the child object;

adding the second feed update to the feed of the record; and

adding the second feed update to the news feeds for the followers of the record.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

describing in the feed update details of the update to the record; and

identifying in the feed update who made the update to the record.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving tracking specifications for fields in the record;

updating a field in the record based on the request; and

generating the feed update when the updated field is identified in the tracking specifications.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a configuration input identifying a threshold number of changes to the record; and

generating the feed update when the number changes to the record reaches the threshold number of changes.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a list in the record identifying the followers of the record; and

adding the feed update to the news feeds for the followers identified in the list.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a tenant for the record;

storing a list for the tenant identifying different record types; and

generating the feed update when the record is identified as one of the record types in the list.

8. A database system for tracking updates to a record, comprising:

a hardware processor operable in the database system to;

receive a request to update a record for an information feed;

use data from the request to update the record;

cross reference the record with a record list of record names for tracking;

generate a feed update when the record is identified in the record list; and

add the feed update to a feed for the record.

9. The database system of claim 8, the hardware processor further configured to:

identify followers of the record; and

add the feed update to news feeds for the followers.

10. The database system of claim 8, the hardware processor further configured to:

store record lists for different tenants in the database system;

identify one of the record lists for one of the tenants associated with the record; and

generate the feed update when the record is identified in the associated one of the record lists.

11. The database system of claim 8, the hardware processor further configured to:

store a list of field names;

update a field in the record based on the request;

cross reference the updated field with the list of field names; and

generate the feed update when the updated field is identified in the list of field names.

12. The database system of claim 8, the hardware processor further configured to:

store a list of events;

identify an event associated with the updated record;

cross reference the event with the list of events; and

generate the feed update when the event associated with the record is one of the list of events.

13. The database system of claim 8, the hardware processor further configured to store the feed for the record in a field of the record.

14. The database system of claim 8, the hardware processor further configured to:

display the record on web pages; and

display the feed update on one of the web pages.

15. The database system of claim 8, the hardware processor further configured to:

generate a follower profile for a user including criteria for generating feed updates; and

add the feed update to a news feed for the user when the updated record satisfies the criteria in the follower profile.

16. A database system for performing a feed query to identify a feed item stored in the database system;

the database system comprising;

a hardware processor; and

one or more stored sequences of instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable media which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to carry out the steps of;

retrieving a custom object associated with the feed item, the custom object including contextual information indicating how to convert the feed item into a description of the feed item and including formatting information indicating how contents of the feed item are oriented and organized with respect to each other into a presentation;

generating an intermediary data structure including the custom object and the feed item; and

providing the intermediary data structure to an application for rendering the feed item based on the contextual information and formatting information in the custom object.

17. The database system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to carry out the steps of:

identifying a first type of rendering for text, images, and a body of a post based on information provided by the feed item; and

identifying a second different type of rendering for the text, images, and body of the post based on and the formatting information provided by the custom object.

18. The database system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to carry out the steps of providing the intermediary data structure to multiple different client applications for inclusion in multiple different information feeds.

19. The database system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to carry out the steps of generating the intermediary data structure prior to displaying the feed item.

20. The database system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to carry out the steps of:

identifying a plurality of feed items based on information included in the custom object; and

including the plurality of feed items with the intermediary data structure.

21. The database system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to carry out the steps of creating a custom feed item based on the custom object and the feed item.

22. The database system of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to carry out the steps of providing the custom object in an information feed.

23. The database system of claim 16, wherein the feed item includes at least one of a post, a comment, audio data, video data, a status update, an uploaded file, a link to a file, a link to a web page, and a link to a record.