Finding and consuming web subscriptions in a web browser

• US 8,751,936 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2008
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gandhi, Amar S., Kim, Jane T., Lueders, John H., Lyndersay, Sean O., Stevens, Warren G., Choi, Wayne WY., Gould, William, Morgan, Bruce A.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALVESTEFFER, STEPHEN D
• Application Number:
  US12/234,449
• Publication Number:
  US 20090013266A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,090 Days
• Field of Search: 715/760
• US Class Current: 715/738
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

A content syndication platform, such as a web content syndication platform, manages, organizes and makes available for consumption content that is acquired from the Internet. In at least some embodiments, the platform can acquire and organize web content, and make such content available for consumption by many different types of applications. These applications may or may not necessarily understand the particular syndication format. An application program interface (API) exposes an object model which allows applications and users to easily accomplish many different tasks such as creating, reading, updating, deleting feeds and the like. Further, in at least some embodiments, a user can subscribe to a particular web feed, be provided with a user interface that contains distinct indicia to identify new feeds, and can efficiently consume or read RSS feeds using both an RSS reader and a web browser.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a user selection in a reader to launch a web browser to view an item in a feed;

launching the web browser;

making the item available for viewing using the web browser;

using the web browser to make other feed-associated items available for viewing, without requiring a user to return to the reader to make subsequent item selections;

providing a link associated with the feed to a web content syndication platform;

causing the web content syndication platform to check a platform feed store for a matching link to enable display of the item in the feed in an application, regardless of whether the application is syndication-aware or not syndication-aware; and

responsive to a user selection in the application to subscribe to the feed, presenting a user interface instrumentality to enable the user to determine a location for the feed to be included within a hierarchical organization of feeds associated with the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the acts of making and using are performed using the web content syndication platform.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the acts of making and using are performed using the web content syndication platform, and the method further comprising, responsive to the matching link being located at the feed store, placing the web browser into a RSS reading mode to display the item in the feed that is associated with the user selection in the reader.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the acts of making and using are performed using an RSS platform.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the reader comprises an RSS reader.

6. A computing device embodying computer-readable instructions which, when executed, implement a method comprising:

receiving a user selection in a reader to launch a web browser to view an item in a feed;

launching the web browser;

making the item available for viewing using the web browser; and

using the web browser to make other feed-associated items available for viewing, without requiring a user to return to the reader to make subsequent item selections, by at least;

providing a web content syndication platform with a link associated with the feed; and

causing the web content syndication platform to search a platform feed store to locate a matching link that matches the link associated with the feed to enable display of the item in the feed in an application, regardless of whether the application is syndication-aware or not syndication-aware; and

presenting, responsive to a user selection in the application to subscribe to the feed, a user interface instrumentality to enable the user to determine a location for the feed to be included within a hierarchical organization of feeds associated with the user.

7. The computing device of claim 6, wherein the acts of making and using are performed using the web content syndication platform.

8. The computing device of claim 6, wherein the acts of making and using are performed using the web content syndication platform, and wherein the act of using is performed by at least:

responsive to the matching link being located at the platform feed store, causing the web browser to operate in a RSS reading mode for displaying the item in the feed that is associated with the user selection in the reader.

9. The computing device of claim 6, wherein the acts of making and using are performed using an RSS platform.

10. The computing device of claim 6, wherein the reader comprises an RSS reader.

11. A computing device comprising:

one or more computer-readable storage media embodying computer-readable instructions; and

a processor configured to utilize the computer-readable instructions to cause the computing device to implement a method comprising;

receiving a user selection in a reader to launch a web browser to view an item in a feed;

launching the web browser;

making the item available for viewing using the web browser;

using the web browser to make other feed-associated items available for viewing, without requiring a user to return to the reader to make subsequent item selections;

providing a link associated with the feed to a web content syndication platform;

causing the web content syndication platform to check a platform feed store for a matching link to enable display of the item in the feed in an application, regardless of whether the application is syndication-aware or not syndication-aware; and

responsive to a user selection in the application to subscribe to the feed, presenting a user interface instrumentality to enable the user to determine a location for the feed to be included within a hierarchical organization of feeds associated with the user.

12. A computing device as recited in claim 11, wherein the acts of making and using are performed using the web content syndication platform.

13. A computing device as recited in claim 11, wherein the acts of making and using are performed using the web content syndication platform, and wherein the act of using is performed by at least:

responsive to the matching link being located at the platform feed store, causing the web browser to operate in a RSS reading mode for displaying the item in the feed that is associated with the user selection in the reader.

14. A computing device as recited in claim 11, wherein the acts of making and using are performed using an RSS platform.

15. A computing device as recited in claim 11, wherein the reader comprises an RSS reader.