Adding syndication feeds to calendar data exchange enabled programs

• US 8,280,984 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2007
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lance, John M., Stoner, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mejia, Anthony
• Application Number:
  US11/775,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20090019107A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,911 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27, 725/46, 725/47
• US Class Current: 709/219
• 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:

entering a calendar item into a calendar application of a client, the calendar item being in a calendar data exchange format and representing an event which is to occur at a date and time indicated by the calendar item;

subscribing to a syndication feed corresponding to the event at the calendar application, wherein the syndication feed commences sending feed data upon occurrence of the event, the feed data indicating a status of the event;

binding the syndication feed to a feed data entry in the calendar application that is associated with the calendar item;

detecting a calendar event resulting from a user interaction with the calendar application, wherein said feed data entry and calendar item are associated with a calendar date and time in the calendar application, and wherein the user interaction is associated with the event date and time in the calendar application;

converting the feed data of the syndication feed from a feed format to a standardized calendar format usable by the calendar application to produce converted feed data; and

automatically presenting, responsive to detecting the calendar event, the converted feed data in the calendar application proximate to the calendar item associated with the feed data entry upon commencement of the event, wherein the feed data includes updates which are automatically obtained from the syndication feed in substantially real time during occurrence of the event and which indicate changes in status of the event.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a syndication reader integrated to the calendar application; and

the syndication reader automatically acquiring the updates from a feed source in accordance with the presenting 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 at the client as the calendar item, wherein the calendar data is in a calendar data exchange format.

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

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 automatically updates the feed data in near real time without user intervention whenever the syndication feed updates feed data in accordance with a subscription of the subscribing step, wherein the event is a sporting event having a score, the feed data indicates the score of the sporting event.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

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

8. 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.

9. 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 feed data entry and calendar item is written in an iCalendar (iCal) based format.

10. 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.

11. A client-based calendar application stored in a non-transitory storage medium comprising:

a feed reader configured to acquire syndication feed data in a feed format from a feed source, the syndication feed data associated with an event and indicating a status of the event; and

a calendar item represented as a calendar entry in a calendar data exchange format, the calendar item managed by the calendar application and associated, in the calendar application, with a date and time of an event that is to occur at the date and time, the calendar item having a feed data entry associated with the calendar item that corresponds to the event and is configured to be programmatically linked to the feed source which provides syndication feed data in a feed format upon commencement of the event in accordance with a subscription so that feed data from the subscription is automatically placed in the calendar entry without user intervention in substantially real time by the feed reader, wherein the feed data includes data indicating the status of the event and changes in status of the event while the event commences, wherein the calendar data exchange format is not a feed format, wherein the feed formatted data is converted to the calendar data exchange format to produce a converted feed that is presented in the calendar application proximate to the calendar item responsive to a calendar event produced by a user interaction with the calendar application corresponding to the date and time of the event.

12. The calendar application of claim 11, further comprising:

a calendar application interface tool for binding the syndication feed to the calendar item.

13. The calendar application of claim 11, further comprising:

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

14. The calendar application of claim 13, wherein the subscription from which the syndication feed data is acquired is specified in the calendar data exchange formatted file, wherein the event is a sporting event having a score, the feed data indicates the score of the sporting event.

15. The calendar application of claim 14, 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.

16. The calendar application of claim 13, 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.

17. A machine rendered interface for a client computer, comprising:

a calendar item represented as a visual element by one of a plurality of calendar entries displayed in a calendaring application of a client, the calendar item stored in a calendar data exchange format and associated with a date and time of an event, the calendar item is editable information able to be presented in the calendar entry representing the calendar item within the machine rendered interface, wherein the calendar data exchange format is not a feed format;

a calendar data exchange import tool, stored in a non-transitory medium of the client computer, configured to automatically obtain calendar data from a calendar publication that is formatted in a calendar data exchange format, wherein calendar data obtained using the calendar data exchange import tool is automatically presented in at least one of the plurality of calendar entries, wherein suitable visual elements for the calendar data are based upon matching date and time values of the calendar data with date and time values associated with the visual elements; and

a syndication feed establishment tool, stored in a non-transitory medium of the client computer, configured to bind a user specified syndication feed corresponding to the event to the calendar item representing the event, wherein after being bound, feed data is obtained from the specified syndication feed upon commencement of the event and is automatically converted to a calendar format to produce converted feed data that is displayed proximate to the calendar entry corresponding to the event in the calendar application responsive to a user interaction with the event date and time in the calendaring application, wherein the converted feed data is displayed in substantially real time, wherein the converted feed data indicates a status of the event and includes real time updates in changes of status of the event and which is displayed in a suitable visual element in the calendar application.

18. The machine rendered interface of claim 17, wherein at least one syndication feed that is bound to calendar entries is specified by calendar data obtained using the calendar data exchange import tool, wherein the event is a sporting event having a score, the feed data indicating the score of the sporting event.

19. The machine rendered interface of claim 17, wherein the machine rendered interface is an interface of a calendar application on a computing machine, 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.