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Bookmarks and subscriptions for feedsRelated Patent Categories: Data Processing: Database And File Management Or Data Structures, Database Or File AccessingBookmarks and subscriptions for feeds description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060200443, Bookmarks and subscriptions for feeds. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of the following patent application, which is hereby incorporated by reference: U.S. application Ser. No. 11/105,637, filed on Apr. 13, 2005, entitled "News Feed Browser." This patent application is related to the following patent applications, which are hereby incorporated by reference: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/467,073, filed on Dec. 20, 1999, entitled "Secondary Windows Generated as Document-Modal Overlays"; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/951,915, filed on Sep. 27, 2004, entitled "Live Content Resizing"; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/105,771, filed on Apr. 13, 2005, entitled "Multiple-Panel Scrolling"; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/105,810, filed on Apr. 13, 2005, entitled "News Feed Viewer"; U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed on Mar. 7, 2006, entitled "MIME Type Detection for Feeds", attorney docket #18602-11356 (P3678C1); and U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, filed on Mar. 7, 2006, entitled "Platform for Feeds", attorney docket #18602-11358 (P3678C3). FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates generally to software tools for accessing a news feed, and more particularly to software tools for detecting, displaying, and managing a news feed. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Many users turn to the Internet as a source of news. Millions of web pages are available as a source of news content. These web pages take many forms, including, for example, articles, blurbs, and web logs ("blogs"), among others. In general, news content is published by inserting it into a web page (e.g., coding it into a HyperText Markup Language (HTML) file), which can then be viewed using a web browser. [0004] However, there are drawbacks to this approach. Users who wish to see content from a variety of sources must typically visit many different web sites. In addition, if the user later wants to obtain the most current content from all the sources, she must visit all the different web sites again. This is very time consuming, especially if the user is interested in many different types of content and/or sources. [0005] One possible solution is a software application that automatically visits a number of web sites that provide news content. The application analyzes the content found at each of the web sites, determines whether the content has changed, and notifies the user as to such changes. The user can then visit the web sites having newly-updated content. Alternatively, the application can automatically extract the updated content and present directly to the user. Unfortunately, in many cases it is very difficult (if not impossible) to identify the news content of a web page without a priori knowledge of the structure of the web page. [0006] In response, "feeds" have been developed as a way to publish news content in a structured format that facilitates identification and analysis. A feed (also known as a "news feed" or "blog feed") can contain articles (content items), meta-data about the articles (e.g., title, date, and author), and/or meta-data about the feed itself (e.g., title, URL, and last-updated timestamp). Some feeds are described by Resource Description Framework (RDF) statements and/or encoded using extended Markup Language (XML) (such as, e.g., the XML syntax RDF/XML). These features of feeds make it easier for applications to automatically collect and evaluate news content for presentation to the user. [0007] The term "syndication XML" refers to XML that has been developed for feeds, such as Atom and RSS ("Really Simple Syndication," "Rich Site Summary," or "RDF Site Summary"). Since the general structure of a feed is known, it is possible to identify the news content within it. Software applications have been developed that work with content published using syndication XML. [0008] One feature of such applications enables a user to view the content of a feed in a way that is more user-friendly than a raw XML (text) file. (Syndication XML identifies content, without requiring that the content be displayed in any particular way.) Applications and/or application handlers, commonly known as "feed viewers," "feed readers," or "feed aggregators," are capable of reading the syndication XML and presenting it to the user. These applications, which can be implemented as (for example) stand-alone applications or web browser plug-ins, often contain useful user interface controls for facilitating navigation, searching, and the like with respect to news feeds. Another feature of many such feed viewers is "aggregation," which enables a user to specify multiple feeds and integrate their content into a single feed. [0009] While feeds have made it easier to access news content, existing techniques for detecting, managing, and presenting news feeds have some disadvantages. One problem is that users may be unable to determine whether a server is publishing a feed. Then, once a feed has been found and navigated to, the web browser will often prompt the user to save the feed to disk or display it as raw text, rather than display it in a user-friendly way. Another problem is that even if a feed can be displayed in a user-friendly way, this display often cannot be modified based on user preferences. Yet another problem is that if a user views a feed using multiple feed viewers (for example, on different computers), the state of the user's interaction with the feed (for example, which articles have been read) is inconsistent across the viewers. One viewer is not aware of the fact that the user has already viewed a particular article in another viewer. What is needed is a software application and/or software architecture that solves these problems. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0010] The present invention provides techniques for detecting, managing, and presenting syndication XML (news feeds). In one embodiment, a web browser automatically determines that a web site is publishing syndication XML and notifies the user. The user is then able to access the feed easily. The user can be notified, for example, by displaying a badge in the address bar of the browser window. The user can access the feed, for example, by using the badge to toggle between viewing the web page and viewing the feed. [0011] In another embodiment, a web browser automatically determines that a web page or feed is advertising relationship XML. The web browser then determines that the relationship XML identifies a feed or web page. The user is then able to access the identified feed or web page easily. In one embodiment, when relationship XML is found, information about the people identified in the relationship XML is displayed. For example, a person's name can be displayed and can link to her syndication XML or to her homepage. [0012] In yet another embodiment, a web browser automatically determines whether a file contains syndication XML. If it does, the web browser enables the user to view the feed in a user-friendly way. For example, the web browser can open the feed file in an application handler to display the feed. As another example, the web browser can display the feed in its content window. In one embodiment, the web browser converts the feed to HTML and then displays the HTML. [0013] In yet another embodiment, a user can bookmark feeds and organize the bookmarks using folders. In one embodiment, a user can aggregate multiple feeds by selecting a folder containing multiple feed bookmarks. In one embodiment, a bookmark displays the number of "read" or "unread" items in its associate feed. A user can also subscribe to feeds. [0014] In yet another embodiment, a user can modify how a feed is displayed. For example, the user can specify which content is to be displayed. In one embodiment, the user can control the order in which articles are displayed. In another embodiment, the user can specify which articles are to be displayed. In yet another embodiment, the user can control the amount of each article that is displayed. As another example, a user can modify the format in which a feed is displayed. A format can specify which information is displayed (and in what order) and how the displayed information should be formatted. In one embodiment, a modification regarding how a feed is to be displayed is stored so that it can be used again at a later time. [0015] In yet another embodiment, feed state information is stored in a repository that is accessible by applications that might be used to view the feed. In one embodiment, if the state of a feed changes, an application notifies the repository, and the repository updates the state accordingly. In another embodiment, a feed is parsed and stored in a structured way. [0016] In yet another embodiment, a user can create a custom feed through aggregation and/or filtering of existing feeds. Aggregation includes, for example, merging the articles of multiple feeds to form a new feed. Filtering includes, for example, selecting a subset of articles of a feed based on whether they satisfy a search query. Aggregation and/or filtering can be performed server-side or client-side. [0017] 5In yet another embodiment, a user can find articles from feeds that she has not bookmarked or subscribed to. The user can enter a search query into a search engine that searches feeds, which will identify one or more feed articles that satisfy the query. Once the articles that satisfy the query have been identified, the search engine returns the results. In one embodiment, the results are presented to the user in the form of a web page containing one or more links to feed articles. In another embodiment, the articles that satisfy the query are assembled into a feed, which is then presented to the user. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0018] The accompanying drawings illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. [0019] FIG. 1A is a screen shot depicting an example of a browser window, where the browser window is displaying a web page and the URL address bar includes a badge. Continue reading about Bookmarks and subscriptions for feeds... Full patent description for Bookmarks and subscriptions for feeds Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Bookmarks and subscriptions for feeds patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Bookmarks and subscriptions for feeds or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: System for improving timekeeping and saving energy on long-haul trains Next Patent Application: Dynamic learning for navigation systems Industry Class: Data processing: database and file management or data structures ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Bookmarks and subscriptions for feeds patent info. 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