Generic content collection systems

• US 8,869,066 B2
• Filed: 07/06/2007
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AddThis, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Vonarburg, Dominique, Hare, William D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US11/774,470
• Publication Number:
  US 20080010319A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,664 Days
• Field of Search: 715762-765, 715953-855, 715825-826, 715/780, 715/790, 715/784, 715/740
• US Class Current: 715/826
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/95 Retrieval from the web
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

The invention generally relates to a universal, generic content collection method and system for collecting, storing, and sharing content on the Internet using computers, mobile and/or electronic devices. In one aspect, the invention relates to methods and systems for collecting multiple types of content using a user interface. The method includes activating the user interface associated with the content, wherein the user interface is configurable to be associated with at least two types of content; optionally, providing a list of one or more content collections services, wherein a first content collection service is configured to collect a first type of content and a second content collection service is configured to collect a second type of content; and directing the content to one or more content collection services. The user interface may be a virtual button on a webpage, browser or other screen device, or a physical button on a piece of hardware such as a PDA, mobile phone, watch, etc.

Claims

1. A method for collecting multiple types of content comprising:

activating a user interface having content associated with a first type of content and content associated with a second type of content different than the first type of content;

providing a list of content collection services to be displayed on the user interface in response to a user selecting to collect at least one of the content associated with the first type of content or the content associated with the second type of content, a first content collection service from the content collection services to collect the content associated with the first type of content and a second content collection service from the content collection services to collect the content associated with the second type of content; and

sending the content associated with the first type of content to the first content collection service and the content associated with the second type of content to the second content collection service in response to the user selecting the first content collection service and the second content collection service from the list of content collection services.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes one or more of a browser button, a button displayed on a webpage, and a button on a mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the mobile device includes one or more of a cell phone, PDA, camera, and watch.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of content and the second type of content each includes one or more of bookmarks, RSS feeds, podcasts, products, advertisements, contacts, events, images, videos, ads, classifieds, documents, and snippets of information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content associated with the first type of content is displayed on the user interface.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user interface is a first user interface, content associated with a third type of content being displayed on a second user interface.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface is a first user interface, the method further comprising:

setting a default content collection service for the first type of content; and

automatically sending content associated with the first type of content on a second user interface to the default content collection service in response to the user selecting to collect the content associated with the first type of content on the second user interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the content associated with the first type of content is stored in a database separate from the content collection service.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein data collected in response to the user selecting to collect at least one of the content associated with the first type of content or the content associated with the second type of content is used for determining advertisements to be displayed to the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein data collected in response to the user selecting to collect at least one of the content associated with the first type of content or the content associated with the second type of content is used to define a profile of the user.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein data collected in response to the user selecting to collect at least one of the content associated with the first type of content or the content associated with the second type of content is used for inventory management purposes.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the user interface includes content associated with the first type of content and content associated with the second type of content based on analysis of at least one of a special tag associated with the user interface, metadata associated with the user interface or micro-content associated with the user interface.

12. A method for collecting content, comprising:

providing a user interface to be presented to a user, the user interface being associated with first content and second content;

receiving an indication that the user of the user interface has selected to collect the first content and the second content;

determining a first type of content, the first type of content associated with the first content;

determining a second type of content, the second type of content associated with the second content;

sending the first content to a first content collection service, the first content collection service is a preferred content collection service of the user to collect content associated with the first type of content; and

sending the second content to a second content collection service, the second content collection service is a preferred content collection service of the user to collect content associated with the second type of content.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the user interface includes one or more of a browser button, a button displayed on a webpage, and a button on a mobile device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the mobile device includes one or more of a cell phone, PDA, camera, and a watch.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the first content includes at least one of bookmarks, RSS feeds, podcasts, products, advertisements, contacts, events, images, videos, ads, classifieds, documents, and snippets of information.

16. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

provide content associated with a first type of content, content associated with a second type of content, and a content collection option to be presented to a user;

receive a signal indicating that the user has selected the content collection option;

send the content associated with the first type of content to a first content collection service in response to the signal, the first content collection service associated with the first type of content, the first content collection service is a preferred content collection service of the user to collect content associated with the first type of content; and

send the content associated with the second type of content to a second content collection service in response to the signal, the second content collection service associated with the second type of content, the second content collection service is a preferred content collection service of the user to collect content associated with the second type of content.

17. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the first content collection service is a default content collection service associated with the first type of content and the second content collection service is a default content collection service associated with the second type of content.

18. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the content associated with the first type of content, the content associated with the second type of content, and the content collection option are presented to the user on an interface, the non-transitory processor-readable medium further comprising code representing instructions to cause the processor to:

automatically determine that the content associated with the first type of content is associated with the first type of content and that the content associated with the second type of content is associated with the second type of content by searching the interface.

19. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the signal is a first signal, the non-transitory processor-readable medium further comprising code representing instructions to cause the processor to:

provide a list of content collection services to be presented to the user in response to the first signal, the list of content collection services being associated with the first type of content, the first content collection service being within the list of content collection services; and

receive a second signal indicating that the user has selected the first content collection service from the list of content collection services, the code representing instructions to send the content associated with the first type of content to the first content collection service being executed in response to the first signal and the second signal.