Browsing and searching of podcasts

• US 8,516,035 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2006
• Issued: 08/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Neumann, David Lawrence, Mirrashidi, Payam, Verosub, Ellis M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Liangche A
• Assistant Examiner(s): NDIAYE, CHEIKH T
• Application Number:
  US11/476,415
• Publication Number:
  US 20070299874A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,611 Days
• Field of Search: 709201-203, 709/206, 709/207, 709/234, 709/218
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/40 of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data retrieval of still image data G06F16/50; retrieval of audio data G06F16/60; retrieval of video data G06F16/70
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually

Abstract

Improved techniques that facilitate the use of podcasts are disclosed. The improved techniques can pertain to publishing, hosting, accessing, subscribing, managing, organizing, searching, browsing, transferring, and/or playing podcasts. According to yet one aspect, tags are embedded into syndication feeds that may be made available for distribution by an online media store to facilitate the organization, browsing and searching of podcasts. In accordance with one embodiment, one or more keyword tags may be embedded at the feed and/or episode levels of a podcast, thereby enabling the keywords to be associated with the feed and/or episode. In accordance with another embodiment, two or more category tags may be embedded at the feed and/or episode levels of a podcast, enabling the feed and/or episode to be categorized according to two or more categories.

Claims

1. A method of storing information associated with a podcast, comprising:

receiving a podcast at a client device from a server, the podcast having podcast metadata content and podcast media content, the podcast including a plurality of episodes;

parsing, with the client device, the podcast metadata content to identify a set of one or more keywords within the podcast metadata content;

obtaining, with the client device, information associated with the podcast corresponding to the parsed podcast metadata content to determine whether the set of one or more keywords is associated with an episode of the podcast or an entirety of the podcast; and

storing the associated information at a storage device of the client device, the associated information stored in a data structure such that the set of one or more keywords is associated with (i) the corresponding podcast episode if the set of one or more keywords is associated with an episode or (ii) the corresponding podcast media content if the set of one or more keywords is associated with the entirety of the podcast, wherein storing the associated information in the data structure of the client device comprises inserting, in the podcast metadata content, an indicator of one or more keyword tags corresponding to the one or more keywords when the keywords are associated with the episode of the podcast or when the keywords are associated with the entirety of the podcast.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving another podcast at the client device, the other podcast having other podcast metadata content and other podcast media content, the other podcast metadata content identifying a plurality of categories;

parsing, with the client device, the other podcast metadata content to identify two or more categories, the plurality of categories including more categories than the identified two or more categories;

selecting, with the client device, the two or more categories to categorize the other podcast; and

storing, in the client device, information associated with the other podcast corresponding to the parsed other podcast metadata content such that a categorization of the other podcast media content is limited to using the two or more categories.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining one or more keywords to search a plurality of podcasts, wherein each of the plurality of podcasts has podcast media content and podcast metadata;

searching the podcast metadata associated with the plurality of podcasts for the one or more keywords;

identifying podcast media content having the one or more keywords associated therewith; and

providing a list of the identified podcast media content.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the podcast media content includes one or more episodes, wherein searching the podcast metadata includes searching the podcast metadata associated with the one or more episodes of the plurality of podcasts.

5. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the keywords are received from a user.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

searching the podcast metadata content for one or more keyword tags;

obtaining a keyword associated with each of the one or more keyword tags from the podcast metadata content;

identifying at least a portion of the podcast media content associated with the one or more keyword tags;

storing the keyword associated with each of the one or more keyword tags as a set of keywords, the set of keywords being associated with the identified at least a portion of the podcast media content.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the podcast media content includes one or more episodes, wherein the set of keywords is stored such that they are associated with one or more of the episodes.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

providing the set of keywords in metadata of the one or more of the episodes.

9. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein identifying at least a portion of the podcast media content associated with the one or more keyword tags comprises:

identifying the one or more episodes associated with the one or more keyword tags.

10. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

displaying one or more of the identified categories.

11. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein categorizing is performed when one or more categories have not previously been defined for the pod cast.

12. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein parsing comprises:

identifying a category tag for each of the two or more categories.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, further comprising:

determining whether the other podcast metadata content includes one or more specialized category tags;

when determined that the other podcast metadata content does not include one or more specialized category tags, determining whether the other podcast metadata content includes one or more standard category tags.

14. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the other podcast media content includes one or more episodes, the method further comprising:

obtaining one or more episodes of the other podcast; and

storing each of the episodes according to a set of categories corresponding to the episode, the set of categories including at least one of the identified two or more categories such that each of the episodes is associated with the corresponding set of categories.

15. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the other podcast media content includes one or more episodes, the method further comprising:

obtaining one or more episodes of the other podcast; and

storing each of the episodes according to a set of categories such that each of the episodes is associated with at least one of the identified two or more categories.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the set of categories is stored on a client device.

17. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

obtaining an episode of the other podcast; and

providing at least one of the identified two or more categories in a header of the episode.

18. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein each of at least two of the two or more categories include two or more nested sub-categories.

19. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the other podcast metadata content identifies an order for the plurality of categories, and wherein the two or more categories appear first in the order.

20. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising;

parsing, with the client device, the other podcast metadata content to identify the plurality of categories;

comparing the plurality of categories to a set of categories supported by the client device to identify matching categories, wherein the two or more categories are the matching categories.

21. A method of modifying a media file associated with a podcast, comprising:

receiving a podcast at a client device from a server, the podcast having podcast metadata content and podcast media content, the podcast including a plurality of episodes;

parsing, with the client device, the podcast metadata content and/or podcast media content to ascertain whether the podcast media content includes explicit content;

determining, with the client device, whether the explicit content applies to one of the plurality of episodes of the podcast if the parsing indicates that the podcast media content includes explicit content;

inserting, with the client device, information in podcast metadata content of the episode of the podcast to denote that the episode includes explicit content if the explicit content applies to the episode of the podcast, wherein inserting the information comprises inserting, in the podcast metadata content of the podcast, an indicator of one or more explicit tags corresponding to the explicit content when the explicit content is associated with the episode of the podcast or when the explicit content is associated with an entirety of the podcast.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

receiving another podcast, the other podcast having other podcast metadata content and other podcast media content, the other podcast metadata content identifying two or more categories, wherein each of at least two of the two or more categories include two or more nested sub-categories;

parsing, with the client device, the other podcast metadata content to identify the two or more categories;

storing information associated with the other podcast corresponding to the parsed other podcast metadata content at a storage device associated with a web site such that the other podcast media content, for use at the web site, is categorized according to a set of categories using the identified two or more categories; and

displaying, in a graphical user interface of the client device, one of the identified categories in association with the other podcast;

receiving a selection of the displayed one category; and

in response to the selection, displaying additional categories of the identified two or more categories.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein categorizing is performed when one or more categories have not previously been defined for the other podcast.

24. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein parsing comprises:

identifying a category tag for each of the two or more categories.

25. The method as recited in claim 24, further comprising:

determining whether the other podcast metadata content includes one or more specialized category tags;

when the other podcast metadata content is determined not to include one or more specialized category tags, determining whether the other podcast metadata content includes one or more standard category tags.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, further comprising:

when the other podcast metadata content includes one or more standard category tags and does not include one or more specialized category tags, determining whether the one or more standard category tags represent categories that are in the set of categories and categorizing the other podcast metadata content only in categories represented by the standard category tags that are in the set of categories.

27. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the other podcast media content includes one or more episodes, the method further comprising:

obtaining one or more episodes of the other podcast; and

storing each of the episodes according to a set of categories corresponding to the episode, the set of categories including at least one of the identified two or more categories such that each of the episodes is associated with the corresponding set of categories.

28. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein the other podcast media content includes one or more episodes, the method further comprising:

obtaining one or more episodes of the other podcast; and

storing each of the episodes according to a set of categories such that each of the episodes is associated with at least one of the identified two or more categories.

29. The method as recited in claim 28, wherein the set of categories is associated with an online store supported by a server.

30. The method as recited in claim 28, wherein the set of categories is stored on a server.

31. The method as recited in claim 28, further comprising:

obtaining an episode of the other podcast; and

providing at least one of the identified two or more categories in a header of the episode.

32. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein the information comprises one or more keywords to be associated with the corresponding episode.

33. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein the information comprises one or more categories.

34. The method as recited in claim 33, wherein the one or more categories includes two or more nested sub-categories.

35. The method as recited in claim 21, further comprising:

determining whether the explicit content applies to the entire podcast if the inserting information in the podcast metadata content of the entire podcast to denote that the podcast include explicit content if the explicit content applies to the entire podcast.

36. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein explicit content applies to the episode of the podcast, the method further comprising:

receiving, at the client device from a second device, a request for the episode; and

sending, from the client device to the second device, the podcast metadata content and the podcast media content of the episode to the second device.

37. A method of storing information associated with a podcast, comprising:

receiving a podcast at a client device from a server, the podcast having podcast metadata content and podcast media content, the podcast including a plurality of episodes;

parsing, with the client device, the podcast metadata content to identify explicit content within the podcast metadata content;

obtaining, with the client device, information associated with the podcast corresponding to the parsed podcast metadata content to determine whether the explicit content is associated with an episode of the podcast or an entirety of the podcast; and

storing the associated information at a storage device of the client device such that the explicit content is associated with (i) the corresponding podcast episode if the explicit content is associated with an episode or (ii) the corresponding podcast media content if the explicit content is associated with the entirety of the podcast, wherein storing the associated information comprises inserting an indicator in the podcast metadata content,

wherein storing the associated information at a storage device of the client device comprises inserting, in the podcast metadata content, an indicator of one or more explicit tags corresponding to the explicit content when the explicit content is associated with the episode of the podcast or when the explicit content is associated with the entirety of the podcast.

38. The method as recited in claim 37, wherein explicit content is associated with the episode, the method further comprising:

receiving, at the client device from a second device, a request for the episode; and

sending, from the client device to the second device, podcast metadata content and podcast media content of the episode to the second device, the podcast metadata content of the episode including the associated information.