Podcast organization and usage at a computing device

• US 8,412,763 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2006
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Jones, Anne, Wiese, Mike, Neumann, David Lawrence
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Liangche A
• Assistant Examiner(s): NDIAYE, CHEIKH T
• Application Number:
  US11/476,414
• Publication Number:
  US 20070299873A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,471 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/204, 709/234
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/907 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/908 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Improved techniques that facilitate the use of podcasts are disclosed. The improved techniques can pertain to publishing, hosting, accessing, subscribing, managing, organizing, searching, browsing, transferring, and/or playing podcasts. According to one aspect, tags are embedded into syndication feeds (e.g., RSS feeds) that may be made available for distribution by an online media store to facilitate the management of podcasts. In accordance with one embodiment, an explicit tag may be embedded at the feed and/or episode level to indicate that the feed and/or episode includes explicit content. In accordance with another embodiment, a duration tag may be embedded at the episode level to indicate an estimated duration associated with the episode. Upon downloading the episode, the duration may be replaced by the actual duration of the episode. In accordance with yet another embodiment, a new feed-URL tag may be embedded in a syndication feed to identify a new URL at which the feed is to be accessed.

Claims

1. A method of storing information associated with a podcast, comprising:

receiving a podcast by a server, the podcast having podcast metadata content and podcast media content, the podcast media content includes one or more episodes;

parsing the podcast metadata content to ascertain whether the podcast media content includes an explicit tag;

obtaining information associated with the podcast corresponding to the parsed podcast metadata content to determine whether the explicit tag is associated with an episode of the podcast or the podcast as a whole;

determining whether the explicit tag is associated with the podcast or an episode of the podcast based upon the associated information;

associating the associated information with the episode of the podcast if the determining has determined that the explicit tag is associated with an episode of the podcast, the associated information including at least an indicator of a value of the explicit tag; and

storing the associated information for use by a client device to determine whether the episode is to be blocked based upon the associated information,

wherein at least when determined that the podcast metadata content includes an explicit tag, the method further comprises;

determining whether the explicit tag is associated with the podcast or an episode of the podcast;

associating an indicator of the value of the explicit tag with all of the podcast media content of the podcast when the explicit tag is associated with the podcast; and

associating an indicator of the value of the explicit tag with the episode of the podcast when the explicit tag is associated with the episode of the podcast.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the indicator of the value of the explicit tag indicates whether the corresponding portion of the podcast media content includes explicit content.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

when the podcast metadata content does not include an explicit tag, storing an indicator indicating that the podcast media content does not include explicit content.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein when the value of the explicit tag indicates that at least a portion of the podcast media content does not contain explicit content, storing an indicator indicating that the at least a portion of the podcast media content does not include explicit content.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

providing an indicator of the value of the explicit tag in metadata of one or more of the episodes of the podcast.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the value of the explicit tag is clean, explicit, or unspecified.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

when the value of the explicit tag indicates that the podcast or an episode of the podcast includes explicit content and a parental preference is set to filter explicit content, the corresponding podcast media content of the podcast or the episode cannot be at least one of downloaded, accessed, and subscribed to.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, the method further comprising:

when the value of the explicit tag indicates that at least a portion of the podcast includes explicit content and a parental preference is set to filter explicit content, the corresponding podcast media content cannot be at least one of downloaded, accessed and subscribed to.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

providing an indicator of the value of the explicit tag or an indicator as to whether the podcast media content includes explicit content.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the explicit tag is associated with the podcast and a second explicit tag is associated with an episode of the podcast.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the explicit tag is associated with an episode of the podcast and a second explicit tag is associated with the podcast.

2. A method of storing information associated with a podcast, comprising:

receiving a podcast by a server, the podcast having podcast metadata content and podcast media content;

parsing the podcast metadata content to ascertain whether the podcast media content includes an explicit tag;

obtaining information associated with the podcast corresponding to at least the explicit tag to ascertain whether the explicit tag corresponds to at least a portion of the podcast media content if the podcast metadata content includes an explicit tag;

associating an indicator of a value of the explicit tag with the corresponding portion of the podcast media content; and

storing the associated information and the indicator associated with the podcast corresponding to the parsed metadata content at the server or another server associated with a web site for use to determine whether the podcast should be blocked from access,

wherein the podcast media content includes one or more episodes, and wherein when determined that the podcast metadata content includes an explicit tag, the method comprises;

determining whether the explicit tag is associated with the podcast or an episode of the podcast;

associating an indicator of the value of the explicit tag with all of the podcast media content of the podcast when the explicit tag is associated with the podcast; and

associating an indicator of the value of the explicit tag with the episode of the podcast when the explicit tag is associated with the episode of the podcast.

35. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

parsing the podcast metadata content to determine if there is at least one new-feed-URL tag, the new-feed-URL enables the podcast to signal that a new location for the podcast; and

storing information associated with the podcast corresponding to the parsed podcast metadata content such that a new URL associated with each new-feed-URL tag is identified if determined that there is at least one new-feed-URL tag.

36. The method as recited in claim 35, further comprising:

determining whether the podcast metadata content includes at least one new-feed-URL tag; and

when determined that the podcast metadata content includes at least one new-feed-URL tag, for each new-feed-URL tag obtaining a new URL associated with the new-feed-URL tag from the podcast metadata content.

37. The method as recited in claim 36, further comprising:

inserting a podcast URL tag identifying the new URL into metadata of the corresponding podcast media content.

38. The method as recited in claim 37, wherein the podcast media content includes one or more episodes, and wherein inserting is performed for each episode of the podcast for which a new-feed-URL tag is provided in the podcast metadata content.

39. The method as recited in claim 38, further comprising:

identifying an episode of the podcast corresponding to each new-feed-URL-tag provided in the podcast metadata content.

40. The method as recited in claim 38, further comprising:

inserting the podcast URL tag identifying the new URL into metadata of the corresponding episode of the podcast.

41. The method as recited in claim 36, wherein the podcast media content includes one or more episodes, the method further comprising:

tagging each episode of the podcast for which a new-feed-URL tag is provided in the podcast metadata content as belonging to the new URL.

42. The method as recited in claim 36, wherein the podcast media content includes one or more episodes, the method further comprising:

tagging one or more episodes of the podcast for which a new-feed-URL tag is provided in the podcast metadata content as belonging to the new URL.

43. The method as recited in claim 41, wherein tagging includes substituting the new URL for an old URL.

44. The method as recited in claim 41, further comprising:

determining whether a user has subscribed to the podcast;

wherein tagging is performed when the determining has determined that the user has subscribed to the podcast.

45. The method as recited in claim 41, wherein the episodes are stored in a database.

46. The method as recited in claim 41, wherein tagging comprises storing information associated with each episode of the podcast for which a new-feed-URL tag is provided in the podcast metadata content, the information indicating that the episode belongs to the new URL, wherein the information that is stored is external to the episode.

47. The method as recited in claim 36, further comprising:

displaying a subscribe option;

when the subscribe option is selected by a user, subscribing the user to the podcast such that the podcast is associated with the new URL.

48. The method as recited in claim 47, further comprising:

downloading at least a portion of the podcast media content of the podcast at the new URL.

49. The method as recited in claim 48, wherein downloading comprises:

downloading at least one of the episodes of the podcast at the new URL.

13. A method of downloading a podcast, comprising:

receiving a podcast by a server, the podcast having podcast metadata content and podcast media content;

parsing, by the server, the podcast metadata content to ascertain whether the podcast media content includes explicit content;

storing information associated with the podcast corresponding to the parsed metadata content if the podcast media content includes explicit content, the associated information including at least one episode the explicit content is associated with; and

determining whether the podcast metadata content includes an explicit tag associated with the podcast or at least one episode of the podcast;

when the determining has determined that the podcast metadata content includes an explicit tag associated with at least one episode of the podcast, determining the value of the explicit tag and associating an indicator of the value of the explicit tag with the at least one episode of the podcast media content; and

when the determining has determined that the podcast metadata content includes an explicit tag associated with the podcast, determining the value of the explicit tag and associating an indicator of the value of the explicit tag with all the podcast media content.

14. The method as recited in claim 13,

wherein when the value of the explicit tag indicates that at least one episode of the podcast media content contains explicit content, the at least one episode of the podcast media content is prevented from being at least one of downloaded, accessed, and subscribed to.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

when the determining has determined that the podcast metadata content does not include an explicit tag, storing the podcast media content.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

storing an indicator indicating that the podcast media content does not include explicit content.

17. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein when the value of the explicit tag indicates that at least a portion of the podcast media content does not contain explicit content, downloading the at least a portion of the podcast media content.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the portion of the podcast media content is an episode.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

storing an indicator indicating that the at least a portion of the podcast media content does not include explicit content.

20. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

ascertaining whether a parental preference is set to filter explicit content;

wherein when the value of the explicit tag indicates that at least one episode of the podcast media content contains explicit content, the at least one episode of the podcast media content is at least one of prevented from being downloaded, accessed, and subscribed to when a parental preference is set to filter explicit content.

21. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

providing an indicator of the value of the explicit tag or an indicator as to whether the podcast media content includes explicit content.

22. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

associating an indicator of the value of the explicit tag with at least a portion of the podcast media content.

23. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprises:

determining whether the explicit tag is associated with the podcast; and

associating an indicator of the value of the explicit tag with all of the podcast media content of the podcast when the explicit tag is associated with the podcast.

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

providing an indicator of the value of the explicit tag in metadata of one or more of the at least one episodes of the podcast; and

storing the one or more of the episodes of the podcast.

25. The method as recited in claim 23, wherein the value is clean, explicit, or unspecified.

26. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein when the value of the explicit tag indicates that at least a portion of the podcast media content contains explicit content and a value of a second explicit tag indicates that the at least a portion of the podcast media content does not contain explicit content, the at least a portion of the podcast media content that contains explicit content is prevented from being at least one of downloaded, accessed, and subscribed to.

27. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the at least a portion of the podcast media content is prevented from being at least one of downloaded, accessed, and subscribed to when the explicit tag is associated with an episode of the podcast and the second explicit tag is associated with the podcast.

28. The method as recited in claim 26, wherein the at least a portion of the podcast media content is prevented from being at least one of downloaded, accessed, and subscribed to when the explicit tag is associated with the podcast and the second explicit tag is associated with an episode of the podcast.

29. The method as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

providing an indicator of the value of the explicit tag or an indicator as to whether the podcast media content includes explicit content.

30. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

parsing the podcast metadata content to ascertain an approximate duration of at least a portion of the podcast media content, the podcast media content including a duration tag that includes the approximate duration; and

storing information associated with the podcast corresponding to the parsed podcast metadata content such that the approximate duration of the at least a portion of the podcast media content is associated with the corresponding podcast media content;

calculating an actual duration of the at least a portion of the podcast media content after the podcast is received; and

storing and providing an indicator of the actual duration associated with the at least a portion of the podcast media content.

31. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the portion of the podcast media content is an episode.

32. The method as recited in claim 31, further comprising:

inserting the actual duration into metadata of the episode.

33. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the actual duration replaces the value of the duration tag.

34. The method as recited in claim 33, further comprising:

storing the at least a portion of the podcast media content;

wherein the actual duration replaces the value of the duration tag when the at least a portion of the podcast media content is stored.

50. A method of modifying a media file associated with a podcast, comprising:

receiving a podcast, the podcast having podcast metadata content and podcast media content, the podcast media content including one or more episodes;

parsing the podcast metadata content to ascertain whether the podcast media content includes explicit content;

obtaining information associated with the podcast corresponding to the explicit content to ascertain whether the explicit content is associated with the podcast or an episode of the podcast;

storing the associated information in at least one media file associated with the podcast, wherein the associated information can be accessed to determine if at least a portion of the podcast should be blocked from being accessed, wherein the at least a portion of the podcast corresponds to an episode of the podcast associated with the explicit tag;

wherein when the podcast media content includes explicit content, the podcast metadata content includes an explicit tag and the method further comprises;

determining whether an explicit tag is associated with the podcast or an episode of the podcast and not the podcast based upon the associated information;

associating an indicator of a value of the explicit tag with all of the podcast media content of the podcast when the explicit tag is associated with the podcast; and

associating an indicator of a value of the explicit tag with the episode of the podcast when the explicit tag is associated with the episode of the podcast.

51. The method as recited in claim 50, wherein providing information comprises:

providing an indicator in metadata of one or more of the episodes of the podcast.

52. The method as recited in claim 51, wherein the indicator indicates whether the entire podcast includes explicit content.

53. The method as recited in claim 51, wherein the indicator indicates a duration of the corresponding episode of the podcast.

54. The method as recited in claim 51, wherein the indicator identifies a new URL at which the corresponding episode or the podcast can be accessed.