Method and apparatus for widget and widget-container distribution control based on content rules

• US 9,009,728 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2007
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: AddThis, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Allen, Stewart O., Cosby, Scott F., Debutts, Hasseltine R., Fath, John A., Keesan, Matthew J., Radfar, Hooman, Reverte, Carlos F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Anya, Charles E
• Application Number:
  US11/682,639
• Publication Number:
  US 20080222658A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,961 Days
• Field of Search: 715/749, 719/311, 726/26
• US Class Current: 719/311
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/14 Tree-structured documents parsing G06F40/205; validation G06F40/226

Abstract

A method includes receiving an instruction used to define a widget-container containing a service module associated with a widget. The widget-container is a procedural software framework configured to be executed at a widget-container processing device in response to a reference to the widget-container being accessed from a content aggregation point. The widget-container has a portion configured for receiving the widget. The method also includes determining whether processing of the widget within the portion of the widget-container is restricted and/or allowed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an instruction used to define a widget-container containing a service module associated with a widget, the service module being different than the widget, the widget-container being a procedural software framework configured to be embedded within a web-page at a widget-container processing device in response to a reference to the widget-container being accessed at the web-page, the widget-container having a portion configured for receiving the widget;

determining whether processing of the widget within the portion of the widget-container is at least one of restricted or allowed based on at least one of a geographic location associated with the widget-container processing device, an identifier associated with the web-page, or content, other than the widget-container, included in the web-page;

removing at least one component of the widget-container from the widget-container to produce a modified widget-container when the processing of the widget is restricted; and

sending, in response to the reference being accessed from the web-page, the modified widget-container to the widget-container processing device when the processing of the widget is restricted.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

producing the widget-container based on the instruction, the producing includes incorporating a valid reference to the widget in the widget-container in response to the processing of the widget being allowed; and

sending the widget-container to the widget-container processing device in response to the reference to the widget-container being accessed when the processing of the widget is allowed.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the producing is performed at a first device, the widget-container processing device is configured to receive the widget from a second device when processing the widget within the widget-container and when the processing of the widget is allowed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the service module is a pre-defined function associated with the widget-container, the widget is at least one of a static data object, a media object, or a software object.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

producing the widget-container based on the instruction, the producing includes incorporating at a first time a reference to the widget in the widget-container;

sending at a second time the widget-container to the widget-container processing device in response to the reference to the widget-container being accessed at the web-page, the second time being after the first time, the determining includes determining at a third time that processing of the widget is at least one of restricted or allowed, the third time being after the second time; and

sending, in response to the determining, to the widget-container processing device an indicator configured to stop processing of the widget within the widget-container.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining includes determining before the reference is accessed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the web-page is a first web-page, the reference is a first reference derived from a second reference to the widget-container included in a second web-page, the determining includes determining after the first reference is included in the first web-page.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is in response to the reference being placed within the web-page.

9. A non-transitory processor-readable medium comprising code representing instructions to cause a processor to:

receive a first reference to a widget-container placed in a first web-page, the first reference being derived from a second reference to the widget-container placed in a second web-page, the second reference being derived from a third reference to the widget-container placed in a third web-page, the widget-container being a procedural software framework configured to be executed at a widget-container processing device in response to the first reference to the widget-container being accessed at the widget-container processing device, the widget-container having a portion configured for receiving a component; and

determine whether processing of the component within the widget-container is at least one of restricted or allowed based on at least one control rule in response to the first reference to the widget-container being accessed, the at least one control rule being associated with the second reference and the third reference.

10. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the first reference is uniquely defined to trigger sending of the widget-container for execution within a location of the first web-page.

11. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising code representing instructions to cause the processor to:

retrieve an identifier associated with the first web-page in response to the first reference being accessed at the widget-container processing device, the code representing instructions to cause the processor to determine including code representing instructions to cause the processor to determine based on the identifier.

12. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising code representing instructions to cause the processor to:

generate the widget-container based on an instruction defining the widget-container in response to the first reference being accessed;

incorporate at a first time a valid reference to the component in the widget-container in response to an indicator that processing of the component is allowed; and

trigger at a second time sending the widget-container to the widget-container processing device, the second time being after the first time.

13. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the code representing instructions to cause the processor to determine includes code representing instructions to cause the processor to determine whether processing of the component within the widget-container is at least one of restricted or allowed based on an identifier associated with the first web-page and in response to the first reference being placed in the first web-page.

14. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 9, further comprising code representing instructions to cause the processor to:

trigger sending a notification to an entity associated with the component, the notification including an indicator of whether processing of the component is at least one of restricted or allowed.

15. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the code representing instructions to cause the processor to determine includes code representing instructions to cause the processor to determine whether processing of the component within the widget-container is at least one of restricted or allowed based on parentage information associated with the first reference being derived from the second reference.

16. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the code representing instructions to cause the processor to determine includes code representing instructions to cause the processor to determine whether processing of the component within the widget-container is at least one of restricted or allowed based on at least one rule associated with the first reference, the at least one rule being associated with the first reference in response to the first reference being derived from the second reference, a result of applying the at least one rule to the first reference being different than a result of applying the at least one rule to the second reference.

17. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the code representing instructions to cause the processor to determine includes code representing instructions to cause the processor to determine that processing of the component within the widget-container is restricted, the code further comprising code representing instructions to cause the processor to:

define a modified widget-container based on the component within the widget-container being restricted, the modified widget-container not including the component; and

send the modified widget-container to the widget-container processing device.

18. A method, comprising:

receiving a request for a widget-container from a widget-container processing device in response to a reference to the widget-container being accessed from a web-page at the widget-container processing device;

determining, in response to the request, that processing of a portion of the widget-container is restricted based on a preference associated with the portion of the widget-container and an identifier associated with the web-page;

removing, based on the determining, the portion of the widget-container from the widget-container to produce a modified widget-container; and

sending, in response to the request, the modified widget-container to the widget-container processing device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the sending includes sending after the determining.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the preference is associated at a first time with the portion of the widget-container, the reference to the widget-container is associated with the web-page at a second time, the second time being after the first time, the determining includes determining after the second time.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the reference is uniquely defined to trigger sending of the widget-container for execution within a location of the web-page, the reference is from a plurality of references to the widget-container, each reference from the plurality of references is derived from a separate reference from the plurality of references.