Provider-specific parsing for content retrieval

• US 9,053,203 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2010
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Wilson, Mei L., Dinu, Daniel, Clinick, Andrew J., Schreiner, Jesse Sage
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, DUYEN MY
• Application Number:
  US12/963,573
• Publication Number:
  US 20120150988A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,644 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

This document describes techniques for, and apparatuses capable of, provider-specific parsing for content retrieval. In one embodiment, a user'"'"'s computing device receives code (e.g., an executable script) from a content provider and utilizes a parsing scheme associated with the content provider to parse the code and determine an address that can be used to retrieve an instance of content. The instance of content can then be retrieved using the address and without executing the code. In some embodiments, the parsing scheme is specific to the content provider and can be updated based on a change to the code.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving web content as executable code that is executable to cause an instance of content referenced within the web content to be retrieved from a content provider;

ascertaining a parsing scheme that is specific to the content provider and that is configured for determining addresses for instances of content from executable code of the content provider independent of executing the executable code from which the address is determined, the parsing scheme being ascertained from among a plurality of different parsing schemes that are each associated with a different respective content provider;

parsing the executable code using the parsing scheme to determine an address for the instance of content; and

retrieving the instance of content using the address.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the executable code comprises one of more of an executable script, a playlist file, or markup code.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein receiving the executable code that is executable to cause the instance of content to be retrieved is responsive to a request from a device for the instance of content and wherein ascertaining the parsing scheme comprises:

determining that the device that requested the instance of content cannot execute the executable code; and

receiving the parsing scheme from a remote resource responsive to the determining that the device that requested the instance of content cannot execute the executable code.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of different parsing schemes is specific to the different respective content provider with which it is associated.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein ascertaining the parsing scheme comprises:

determining that the parsing scheme needs to be updated; and

receiving an updated version of the parsing scheme from a remote resource.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the determining that the parsing scheme needs to be updated is responsive to receiving an indication of one or more changes to the executable code associated with the instance of content.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the address comprises one or more of a uniform resource locator (URL) or a uniform resource identifier (URI) for the instance of the content.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein parsing the executable code using the parsing scheme to determine the address for the instance of the content comprises parsing at least a portion of a website associated with the content provider of the instance of the content.

20. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the instance of content comprises an instance of media content.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

maintaining a plurality of different parsing schemes for a plurality of different content providers, the plurality of different parsing schemes each being individually configured to parse different web content that includes executable code associated with a different one of the plurality of different content providers to determine an address for a different instance of content referenced within the different web content and independent of executing the executable code from which the address is determined;

determining that one of the parsing schemes needs to be updated; and

causing the one of the parsing schemes to be updated to produce an updated parsing scheme.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein determining that the one of the parsing schemes needs to be updated is responsive to a request from a remote device for an updated parsing scheme.

11. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein determining that the one of the parsing schemes needs to be updated is responsive to receiving an indication from a remote device of a failure of the one of the parsing schemes.

12. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein determining that the one of the parsing schemes needs to be updated is responsive to an indication from one of the plurality of content providers that the one of the parsing schemes needs to be updated.

13. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

determining that a remote device previously received the one of the parsing schemes; and

pushing the updated parsing scheme to the remote device.

14. One or more computer-readable devices storing computer-executable instructions, the instructions comprising:

a parsing module manager configured to store a plurality of parsing modules, one or more of the parsing modules being specific to a different web content provider than one or more others of the parsing modules and being configured to parse web content received as executable code that is executable to retrieve an instance of content referenced within the web content from the different web content provider, the executable code being parsable to determine an address for retrieving the instance of content independent of executing the executable code from which the address is determined; and

a parsing module updater configured to cause the one or more of the parsing modules to be updated.

15. The one or more computer-readable devices of claim 14, wherein the executable code associated with the content provider comprises one or more of an executable script, a playlist file, or markup code.

16. The one or more computer-readable devices of claim 14, wherein the parsing module manager is further configured to push the one or more parsing modules to a remote device responsive to an indication of a request from the remote device for the instance of content.

17. The one or more computer-readable devices of claim 14, wherein the parsing module updater is further configured to cause the one or more parsing modules to be updated responsive to an indication of a change in the executable code associated with the different web content provider.

18. The one or more computer-readable devices of claim 17, wherein indication of the change in the executable code comprises an indication of a change to a website associated with the different web content provider.

19. The one or more computer-readable devices of claim 14, wherein the parsing module manager is further configured to maintain a list of devices that have requested at least one of the parsing modules and, responsive to the at least one requested parsing module being updated, push an updated version of the at least one requested parsing module to the devices.