Web data usage platform

• US 7,917,507 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2007
• Issued: 03/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lyndersay, Sean O., Kim, Jane T., VonKoch, Walter, Stevens, Warren, Pavlicic, Miladin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu; Kuen S
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAM, TUAN A
• Application Number:
  US11/705,286
• Publication Number:
  US 20080195628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,506 Days
• Field of Search: 707 2- 3, 707/10, 707/102, 707/203, 714/1, 709224-225, 709/218, 709/232
• US Class Current: 707/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/00 Arrangements for software engineering testing or debugging G06F11/36; administrative, planning or organisation aspects of software project management G06Q10/06

Abstract

An application programming interface (API) layer is implemented on a computing device. The API layer allows a local application(s) executing on the computing device to access web data in a data store layer, and further allows a remote application(s) that is executing on some other computing device to access the web data in the data store layer. Additionally, this web data can include web pages, some of which may include structured data and some of which may not include structured data. A web browser is permitted to access the web data store via the object model, and generate a user interface based at least in part on these web pages.

Claims

1. A method, implemented in a computing device having a web data platform including an engine layer, a data store layer, a behavior store layer, and an API layer, the method comprising:

identifying via the engine layer web data that is collectable being present within page descriptions of one or more web pages accessed via the computing device;

collecting via the engine layer the web data from the page descriptions of the one or more web pages accessed via the computing device for storage in the data store layer implemented by the computing device, at least some of the web data being configured in a structured data format and associated with behaviors stored in the behavior store layer and executable by the computing device to enable interactions to use the collected web data with corresponding applications;

generating an object model to describe the collected web data, the object model having a plurality of objects that represent and enable access to the web data that is stored in the data store layer of the computing device, the plurality of objects of the object model arranged to represent items, collections, and properties of the collected web data;

exposing an application programming interface (API) via the API layer to enable interactions of a plurality of applications executing on the computing device with the web data in the data store layer including at least invoking the behaviors;

providing notifications to one or more of the plurality applications responsive to identifying a change to the web data;

receiving requests from the plurality of applications executing on the computing device to perform an action on the web data, the requests being received via invocation of one or more methods of the plurality of objects; and

performing the requested action on the web data.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

receiving an additional request from a remote application executing on another computing device to access the web data;

allowing the remote application to access the web data.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein providing notifications to one or more of the plurality applications further comprises:

identifying a change to the web data; and

notifying the one or more of the plurality of applications of the identified change to the web data.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

displaying a user interface control allowing a user of the plurality of applications to select particular web data in the data store layer.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

checking whether a change to the web data has been made; and

if the change has been made, then notifying one or more of the plurality of applications of the change to the web data.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of applications includes a web browser and one or more additional applications.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the web data comprises a plurality of web pages, wherein the data store layer stores each web page of the plurality of web pages as an item, wherein the data store layer further stores a plurality of collections, and wherein each collection of the plurality of collections identifies one or more items.

8. One or more computer readable storage media having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the one or more processors to implement a web data platform including an engine layer, a data store layer, a behavior store layer, and an API layer, the web data platform configured to:

identify via the engine layer web data that is collectable being present within page descriptions of one or more web pages accessed via the computing device;

collect via the engine layer the web data that is identified from the page descriptions of the one or more web pages;

store the web data in the data layer store of the computing device according to an object model that defines items, collections, and properties of the stored web data, the data layer store configured to store web data that is collected from multiple sources including at least the one or more web pages accessed via the computing device and one or more local applications of the computing device;

provide notifications via the data store layer to one or more applications responsive to identifying a change to the web data;

implement the application programming interface layer to;

expose one or more behaviors via the behavior store layer that are executable to allow one or more local applications executing on the computing device to access and make use of the web data that is collected and stored in the data store layer; and

expose one or more behaviors via the behavior store layer that are executable to allow one or more remote applications executing on one or more other computing devices to access and make use of the web data in the data store layer, at least some of the web data collected automatically responsive to navigation of a browser of the computing device to the one or more web pages.

9. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 8, wherein the one or more local applications include a web browser and web browser extensions.

10. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to implement the engine layer to detect changes to the web data by comparing the web data to data obtained from one or more source locations from which updates to the web data are retrieved, and to save the changes to the web data in the data store layer.

11. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 10, wherein the data store layer is to fire an event when a change to the web data has been detected, the event notifying the one or more local applications and the one or more remote applications that the change to the web data has been detected.

12. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 11, wherein the application programming interface layer comprises a synchronization protocol module to receive the event, to maintain a record of the change to the web data, and to communicate the change to the one or more remote applications.

13. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to implement the data store layer using a data storage device of the computing device.

14. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 8, wherein the application programming interface layer includes a synchronization protocol module that accesses the web data in the data store layer on behalf of the one or more remote applications.

15. One or more computer readable storage media having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the one or more processors to implement a web data platform including an engine layer, a data store layer, a behavior store layer, and an API layer, the web data platform configured to:

detect via the engine layer web data contained within page descriptions associated with one or more web pages accessed by the computing device that is configured to be collected and stored in a web data store of the data store layer;

display, responsive to detection of the web data, a user interface control that is selectable to cause storage of the web data detected within the page descriptions of the one or more web pages in the web data store;

store, responsive to a selection of the user interface control, the web data in the web data store of the data store layer, the web data including structured data of multiple different data types that is associated with corresponding behaviors stored in the behavior store layer and executable by the computing device to enable interactions to use the collected web data with corresponding applications in particular ways according to the different data types;

provide notifications via the data store layer to one or more applications responsive to identifying a change to the web data;

generate an object model having a plurality of objects that represent the web data from the one or more web pages including objects to represent items, collections, and properties of the web data; and

allow via the API layer both a web browser executing on the computing device and one or more other applications executing on the computing device to access the web data store via the object model and generate a user interface based at least in part on the one or more web pages having structured data including invoking the behaviors to retrieve and utilize the structured data for the user interface.

16. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 15, wherein to allow the web browser and the one or more other applications to access the web data store via the object model is to allow the web browser and the one or more other applications to access the web data store by invoking one or more methods of the plurality of objects.

17. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to allow both the web browser and the one or more applications to enumerate which behaviors are stored in the behavior store layer of the computing device.

18. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 17, wherein the behaviors are only the behaviors associated with a particular structured data type.

19. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to allow both the web browser and the one or more applications to invoke a behavior that is stored in the behavior store layer of the computing device.

20. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to display a user interface control that allows a user of the computing device to select a particular piece of structured data from the one or more web pages in the web data store that is to be accessed by the web browser or the one or more other applications.