MASS INGESTION OF CONTENT RELATED METADATA TO AN ONLINE CONTENT PORTAL

• US 20130054548A1
• Filed: 08/26/2011
• Published: 02/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Fosback, Jason, Cortes, Ricardo
• Granted Patent: US 9,443,258 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/694
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/83 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

The present technology supports mass ingestion of metadata related to consumables related to online server supported applications. The online server publishes a specification defining metadata fields, allowed format values, and other parameters to facilitate the mass submission of metadata related to consumables. Metadata arranged according to the specification can be fed to the online server via a data stream or through submission of a document including metadata defining a plurality of consumables. The specification has been intelligently designed to account for the many different uses of consumables in applications supported by the server. As will be further described herein, the specification accounts for unique events pertaining to subscription content, in-application purchases, game performance and game award consumables, among others. Every type of consumable being submittable in the same document.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

ingesting, by a networked server computer, a compilation of metadata values being arranged according to a specification and defining a plurality of consumables, the consumables being made available to a user through one or more channels and which require support from the server; and

validating, using a processor, the compilation of metadata values for conformance with a server policy relating to the consumables.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

validating, using the processor, the compilation of metadata values for conformance with the specification.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the specification defines a family tag that groups a plurality of consumables that share common metadata values.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the server policy is based on a contractual relation between a developer and content provider.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the specification defines an interval tag that defines time limits for metadata associated with a consumable.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the compilation of metadata is arranged according to the specification by a consumable loader application.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein the consumable loader application provides a graphical user interface for entering metadata values.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the consumable loader application'"'"'s graphical user interface provides a spreadsheet style interface for entering metadata.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein the consumable loader application allows modifying metadata values for multiple consumables simultaneously.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving via a data feed, at the networked server computer, the compilation of metadata values being arranged according to the specification.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the data feed is an XML data feed.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

publishing the ingested compilation of metadata values being arranged according to a specification.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the networked server computer, the ingested compilation of metadata values being arranged according to a specification to a developer'"'"'s computing device.

14. A system comprising:

a networked server computer configured to ingest a compilation of metadata values being arranged according to a specification and defining a plurality of consumables, the consumables being made available to a user through one or more channels and which require support from the server;

a developer computer in electronic communication with the networked server computer configured to transmit the compilation of metadata values being arranged according to the specification; and

a validation module configured validate the compilation of metadata values for conformance with a server policy relating to the consumables.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the validation module is further configured to validate the complication of metadata values for conformance with the specification which defines a format for the presentation of the metadata values.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the server policy is based on a contractual relation between a developer and content provider.

17. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a publication module configured to publish the consumables defined by the validated metadata to the networked server computer.

18. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a networked user device configured to run an application that is itself configured to access the published consumables on the networked server computer for presentation of the published consumables on the networked user device.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon for causing a computer to perform the steps comprising:

ingesting, by a networked server computer, a compilation of metadata values being arranged according to a specification and defining a plurality of consumables, the consumables being made available to a user through one or more channels and which require support from the server; and

validating, using a processor, the compilation of metadata values for conformance with a server policy relating to the consumables.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the server policy is based on a contractual relation between a developer and content provider.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

publishing the consumables defined by the validated metadata to the networked server computer.

22. A device comprising:

a network interface configured to ingest a compilation of metadata values being arranged according to a specification and defining a plurality of consumables, the consumables being made available to a user through one or more channels and which require support from the server; and

a processor configured to validate the compilation of metadata values for conformance with a server policy relating to the consumables.

23. The device of claim 22, further comprising:

a storage device configured to store the consumables defined by the validated metadata, the storage device is configured to be accessible to a consumer device over the network interface, whereby the consumables are made available to an application being executed on a user device.