Providing virtual really simple syndication (RSS) feeds

• US 7,930,290 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2007
• Issued: 04/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Farouki, Karim T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mahmoudi; Tony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Weinrich; Brian E
• Application Number:
  US11/622,822
• Publication Number:
  US 20080172370A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,558 Days
• Field of Search: 707/710, 707/726
• US Class Current: 707/710
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

A system, method, and computer-readable media are disclosed for providing virtual Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds to requesting users. In one aspect, an embodiment of the method may include receiving a search query for one or more virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds. The method further includes comparing a keyword to a database of keywords associated with the virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds. Additionally, the method includes determining which of the associated keywords match with the keywords. Moreover, the method includes providing the associated virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds that correspond to the matched keywords.

Claims

1. A method for providing virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds, comprising:

determining a presence of a new content within at least one XML file published by a content provider on the Internet with a web crawler of a search engine, wherein the web crawler locates Really Simple Syndication feeds, the web crawler inspects links to determine if the links point to a web page that is the at least one XML file having headers revealing a Really Simple Syndication feed, the web crawler selects the at least one XML file having headers revealing the Really Simple Syndication feed, the web crawler forwards the at least one XML file and its link to a Really Simple Syndication module wherein the Really Simple Syndication module includes an atom extraction module, a keyword module, a ranking module, and an advertisement module, and the new content includes information that was not present in the at least one XML file in a previous examination of the at least one XML file;

separating the at least one XML file into atoms wherein at least one atom within the at least one XML file is identified, wherein the at least one atom is extracted from the at least one XML file, and wherein the at least one atom is a subset of information from a post within the at least one XML file;

determining one or more keywords for the at least one atom based on one or more keyword computation techniques wherein the determining one or more keywords comprises;

a) extracting the one or more keywords provided by authors of the at least one XML file,

b) executing one or more keyword extraction algorithms to extract the one or more keywords from the at least one atom,

c) receiving the one or more keywords relevant to the at least one atom from users,

d) receiving the one or more keywords that have been proposed by a fixed number of users, and

e) generating the one or more keywords from a combination of (a), (b), (c), and (d);

associating the one or more keywords with the at least one atom;

ranking the at least one atom based on core metadata associated with the at least one atom, wherein the core metadata is stored with the at least one atom, and wherein the core metadata comprises;

(1) at least a timestamp of when the at least one atom was created;

(2) a number of users that have accessed the at least one atom;

(3) an average amount of time users spend viewing the at least one atom;

(4) a number of people that have clicked on a link associated with the at least one atom; and

(5) a rating that a user has given the at least one atom; and

providing the at least one atom that is ranked.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising comparing at least one keyword within a search query to the one or more keywords in order to identify corresponding atoms to respond to the search query.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more keyword computation techniques include at least one of a content provider keyword submission, an algorithmic keyword extraction, and a user keyword submission.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein one or more ranking factors include at least one of an explicit rating submission, an implicit rating submission, and a page-rank.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing one or more advertisements with the at least one atom that is ranked.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising examining a header of the at least one XML file to determine a method of payment to the content provider.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the payment is based on a number of times users access the one or more advertisements.

8. One or more computer-storage media having computer-usable instructions executable by a computer thereon for performing a method for providing virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds, comprising:

receiving a request to monitor at least one specified topic of interest for one or more XML files relating to content published by one or more content providers, wherein receiving a request comprises receiving text and a URL related to the one or more XML files;

determining a change in content within the one or more XML files using one or more web crawlers of a search engine, wherein the one or more web crawlers locate Really Simple Syndication feeds, the one or more web crawlers inspect links to determine if the links point to a web page that is an XML file having headers revealing a Really Simple Syndication feed, the web crawler selects the at least one XML file having headers revealing the Really Simple Syndication feed, and the one or more web crawlers forward the XML file and its link to a Really Simple Syndication module, wherein the Really Simple Syndication module includes an atom extraction module, a keyword module, a ranking module, and an advertisement module, wherein the atom extraction module extracts at least one atom from the at least one XML file, wherein the keyword module generates keywords and associates keywords with the at least one atom, wherein the ranking module ranks the at least one atom, based on core metadata associated with the at least one atom, with other atoms received from the keyword extraction module, and wherein the advertisement module searches for advertisements that are related to the at least one atom wherein the core metadata is stored with the at least one atom, and wherein the core metadata comprises;

(1) at least a timestamp of when the at least one atom was created;

(2) a number of users that have accessed the at least one atom;

(3) an average amount of time users spend viewing the at least one atom;

(4) a number of people that have clicked on a link associated with the at least one atom; and

(5) a rating that a user has given the at least one atom; and

providing the at least one atom that is ranked;

determining one or more keywords from the at least one atom associated with each of the one or more XML files, wherein the atom is extracted from each of the one or more XML files, wherein the at least one atom is a subset of information from a post within the at least one XML file and wherein the determining one or more keywords comprises extracting the one or more keywords from the at least one specified topic of interest wherein the determining one or more keywords comprises;

a) extracting the one or more keywords provided by authors of the at least one XML file,

b) executing one or more keyword extraction algorithms to extract the one or more keywords from the at least one atom,

c) receiving the one or more keywords relevant to the at least one atom from users,

d) receiving the one or more keywords that have been proposed by a fixed number of users, and

e) generating the one or more keywords from a combination of (a), (b), (c), and (d);

determining at least one matched atom that is related to the topic of interest; and

providing the at least one matched atom.

9. The media according to claim 8, further comprising ranking the at least one matched atom based on at least one of an explicit rating submission, an implicit rating submission, and a page-rank wherein the page-rank details a number of web pages that link to the at least one matched atom.

10. The media according to claim 8, wherein the one or more keywords are determined by at least one of a content provider keyword submission, an algorithmic keyword extraction, and a user keyword submission.

11. The media according to claim 8, wherein the at least one atom is a subset of at least one of an article and a blog post.

12. The media according to claim 8, further comprising providing advertisements with the at least one matched atom based on one or more keywords of the matched subset of information.

13. One or more computer-storage media having computer-usable instructions executable by a computer for performing a method for providing virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds, comprising:

receiving at least one keyword within a user interface of a RSS reader for one or more virtual Really Simple Syndication Feeds, wherein the one or more virtual Really Simple Syndication Feeds are respectively created from one or more actual Really Simple Syndication Feeds that are customized to specific topics of interests, and wherein the RSS reader is located in a search engine;

comparing the at least one keyword to a database of keywords associated with the one or more virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds using a keyword module located in a server, wherein the keyword module associates keywords with atoms by

a) extracting the keywords provided by authors of the at least one XML file,

b) executing one or more keyword extraction algorithms to extract the keywords from the atoms,

c) receiving the keywords relevant to the atoms from users,

d) receiving the keywords that have been proposed by a fixed number of users, and

e) generating the keywords from a combination of (a), (b), (c), and (d),

wherein the atoms are respectively subsets of content from posts within an XML file of an actual Really Simple Syndication feed;

determining which of the associated keywords match with the at least one keyword;

providing the associated virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds that correspond to the matched keywords within the user interface of the RSS reader; and

providing the virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds corresponding to the matched keywords in a ranked order based on core metadata associated with the atoms, wherein the core metadata is stored with the atoms, and wherein the core metadata comprises;

(1) at least a timestamp of when the at least one atom was created;

(2) a number of users that have accessed the at least one atom;

(3) an average amount of time users spend viewing the at least one atom;

(4) a number of people that have clicked on a link associated with the at least one atom; and

(5) a rating that a user has given the at least one atom.

14. The media according to claim 13, wherein the ranked order is based on an explicit rating submission wherein the explicit rating submission is a submission provided by a user that includes a sentiment of the user.

15. The media according to claim 13, wherein the ranked order is based on an implicit rating submission.

16. The media according to claim 13, wherein the ranked order is based on a page-rank wherein the page-rank details a number of web pages or websites that link to the one or more virtual Really Simple Syndication Feeds.

17. The media according to claim 13, wherein the provided virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds include information from at least one of an article and a blog post.

18. The computer-readable media according to claim 13, further comprising providing advertisements with the associated virtual Really Simple Syndication feeds based the matched keywords.