TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present subject matter generally relates to communication devices and, but
not exclusively, to sharing of content using the communication devices.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Communication devices, such as cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital
assistants (PDAs), and tablets provide users with a variety of communications services and
computer networking capabilities. With the recent advances in technology, the communication
devices not only allow the users to interact through traditional mode of communication, such as
voice calls and text messages, but also allow them to share data using various web applications,
web portals, such as online social platforms, such as Facebook®, Twitter®, and Linkedin®. Such
social networking portals usually invite users to build their network of friends and acquaintances
and allow them to share data over the portal. These portals facilitate interaction of a user with
multiple other users, allowing them to share a wide variety of content with each other. In such
cases, the content being shared is often downloaded onto the communication device being used
by users wishing to view the respective content. However, often times the user has a limited
control over the content that is to be downloaded. As a result, this may result in inefficient usage
of network sources through which the content is provided and may also negatively impact user
experience.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0003] The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures.
In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the
reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference
like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with
embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and with
reference to the accompanying figures, in which:
[0004] Fig. 1 illustrates a communication network environment including communication
devices for sharing online content, according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.
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[0005] Fig. 2a and 2b illustrate a method for sharing content using communication
devices, according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.
[0006] It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein
represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present
subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state
transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like, represent various processes which may be
substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or
processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0007] The present subject matter relates to systems and methods for sharing online
content using communication devices. The methods can be implemented in various computing
devices, such as mobile phones, smart phones, hand-held devices, tablets, and personal digital
assistants (PDAs).
[0008] Communication devices have nowadays become popular and important for the
daily activities of many users. Nowadays, users are increasingly relying upon these
communication devices as an integral tool of their social and professional life, and for staying in
touch with their family, friends, and acquaintance. To be perceived as socially active, the users
often interact through web portals, such as social networking portals. Further, off late, with
available resources and newer techniques, these web portals may be accessed anytime through
the communication devices. For example, conventional devices may provide native applications
which provide seamless access to the content being offered by social networking portals, without
the need for actually accessing the specific websites.
[0009] Besides social content, the users may also be regularly absorbing knowledge
content from various other sources. For example, a user may have subscribed to feeds from news
related sources which allows the users access to latest developments related to any field.
[0010] Typically, to share data over a web portal, the communication devices either use
cellular network resources or connect using other networking technologies, such as Wi-Fi.
Although useful, the cellular network may not be cost effective when compared to other
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networks, such as Wi-Fi connection. Generally, for sharing data over the cellular network, the
users have to subscribe for a data plan with a network provider, and based on the data usage, the
user is charged. Since such secondary sources of data connectivity offer more cost effective
alternatives for data exchange, any user would perhaps prefer accessing such web portals through
a Wi-Fi connection.
[0011] In either case, while browsing a web portal using either of the network
connections, i.e., cellular or Wi-Fi, the user generally have no control over content that is
provided. For example, although a user may be connected to multiple other users through one or
more social networking portals but the user may not be interested in receiving feeds pertaining to
all the users or feeds from all such social networking portals. In such cases, feeds from all others
users and all the social networking portals that user has logged on to, is automatically
downloaded and provided to the user, which may impact user experience as the user is flooded
with unnecessary content. Additionally, in case the user connects through the cellular network,
the user may have to incur extra charges and data usage burden, due downloading of such
unnecessary content.
[0012] Further, after receiving the content, the user may have to rely on network
connectivity to provide a response. For example, in cases, where the user has limited network
connectivity or no network connectivity, the user may not be able to provide response to the
received content. Accordingly, the user may have to wait till the network connectivity is resumed
and then may have to again browse through the contents to provide the response. Thus, in such
cases, although the user may be able to view the content but may not be able to provide a
response, which may again negatively impact user experience as the user may have to go through
the same content multiple times or may have to wait until the network connectivity is resumed.
[0013] To enhance user experience, certain techniques that provide for downloading of
content of certain types of data or downloading of the content from a group of users are
employed. For instance, the user may select to receive only text and images from a given set of
users. Consequently, the user may completely miss the content of certain types of data from
certain users. For example, to save on data, a user may not wish to view multimedia content,
such as video, accordingly, feeds including the multimedia content are not provided to the user,
which in turn may negatively impact the user experience. Further, such techniques do not
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provide a distinction as to the data to be exchanged based on a type of connection the
communication device is connected to. Thus, such techniques are often rigid in nature, where the
user has to select between the two extremes, thereby compromising either on cost incurred or on
user experience. Additionally, even after employing such techniques, a user may not be able to
provide response to the received content in case of limited or no network connectivity.
[0014] According to an embodiment of the present subject matter, systems and methods
for sharing online content using communication devices are described herein. In an
implementation, the online content may be provided based on one or more content filtering
attributes. Examples of content filtering attributes include, but are not limited to, a network
mode, a user group, a set of web portals, and a refresh duration. The content filtering attributes
may be set by a user who wishes to download online content on corresponding communication
device. For the purpose of explanation, other users to whom the user is connected through web
portals, such social networking portals, may be referred to as contacts. Thus, to provide relevant
content, the one or more content filtering attributes may be determined. Based on the determined
content filtering attributes, content from the content providers may be obtained and provided to
the user. The content extracted from the content providers, based on the content filtering
attributes, may be referred to as filtered content.
[0015] In an example, the content from the content providers may be downloaded, based
on the network mode, which indicates whether the communication device is on a cellular
network mode or a non-cellular network mode. For each of the network mode, the user may have
defined a user group, which may indicate one or more contacts, where content pertaining to the
one or more contacts is provided to the user. Likewise, the web portals indicate one or more
portals from where the content corresponding to the selected contacts is to be retrieved. Further,
the refresh duration indicates selected time duration, such as past one day, past one week, or
since the last login, and the content corresponding to the selected contacts from selected web
portals received in this given time duration is to be retrieved. Further, the content for the selected
contacts from the selected web portals for a selected duration may be retrieved based on the
network mode, such as cellular network or Wi-Fi network. Accordingly, it may be understood
that the content filtering attributes define features based on which it may be determined what
data is to be extracted from where and when. Based on the content filtering attributes, content
from the various content providers may be filtered to extract relevant content.
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[0016] The present subject matter thus facilitates the user to receive, based on network
mode, relevant content corresponding to selected contacts from selected social networking
portals. For instance, when on cellular network mode, the user may opt to receive content
corresponding to a limited number of contacts from a few social networking portals; while on
Wi-Fi mode, the user may receive content corresponding to all contacts for all social networking
portals, since the last time the user logged in. Such a provision may help in enhancing user
experience and saving on costs.
[0017] In an implementation, based on the content filtering attributes, specific types of
data can be determined and provided as part of the feeds in filtered content to the user. For
example, based on the network mode, the user may wish to receive only text or may be only
compressed version of multimedia content. In another example, the user may define that multimedia
content only for a selected set of user is to be provided. Accordingly, based on the content
filtering attributes, a feed in the filtered content includes text pertaining to the feeds and
indicators to multimedia content, if any. For example, in case a socialite uploads a story with
multiple images and the communication device is in the cellular network mode, the
corresponding feed may include text of the story and indicators illustrating that the content also
includes images. Thus, the filtered content that is provided to the user may not be as bulky as the
original content, thereby reducing the cost of data usage incurred by the user, particularly in
cases where the communication device is in a cellular network mode.
[0018] In an implementation, the filtered content may be provided to the user, based on a
categorization attribute, which provides for categorization of the filtered content into a plurality
of categories and feeds pertaining to each of the plurality categories may be provided as a single
nested feed. The categorization attribute may also define a user relevance model, which may in
turn define priority or relevance of each of the plurality categories. Further, the nested feed
pertaining to each of the plurality categories may be arranged in an order of relevance based on a
priority parameter associated with each of the plurality of categories.
[0019] Further, in addition to the text portion included in the filtered content, in case the
user wishes to receive the multimedia content as well, initially a compressed version of the
requested multimedia content may be provided. The compressed version may include, for
example, thumbnails of the images, which may be clear enough to help the user identify the
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image. In an example, in case the user still wishes to receive original version of the requested
multimedia content, a notification may be provided to the user indicating that downloading of the
original multimedia content may incur extra costs. Based on inputs received to the notification,
the original version of the multimedia content may be provided to the user. Thus, the present
subject matter provides the flexibility to the user to receive any type of content, based user
preferences, without having to restrict to a particular type. Further, the user is guided so as to
make an informed decision while downloading heavy content, which may save on costs incurred
when the communication device is on the cellular communication mode.
[0020] In an implementation, upon receiving the content, the user may provide responses
to the content. For example, user may like a feed, add a comment, or re-tweet. In case the
communication device has sufficient network connectivity, the response may be provided to the
relevant content providers. Alternatively, in case the communication device has limited or no
network connectivity, the responses may be stored, for example, in a cache memory. Thus, even
when the user is in offline mode, flexibility to respond to content may be provided. Further, as
soon as network connectivity is established, the responses are provided to the relevant content
providers. Accordingly, the user may not have to wait till the network connectivity is established
and may provide the responses based on his preferences. For example, a user may be idle and
may wish to browse the content and provide the responses, but at the same time the user may not
have the network connectivity, in such cases, the user may provide his responses in an offline
mode and the responses may be uploaded later.
[0021] It should be noted that the description merely illustrates the principles of the
present subject matter. It will thus be appreciated that various arrangements may also be
employed that, although not explicitly described herein, embody the principles of the present
subject matter. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be
only for explanation purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present
subject matter, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited
examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and
embodiments of the present subject matter, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to
encompass equivalents thereof. The manner in which the methods shall be implemented onto
various systems has been explained in details with respect to the Figures 1-2. While aspects of
described systems and methods can be implemented in any number of different computing
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systems, transmission environments, and/or configurations, the embodiments are described in the
context of the following system(s).
[0022] Fig. 1 illustrates a communication network environment 100 including for sharing
online content, according to an embodiment of the present subject matter. The communication
network environment 100 includes a plurality of communication devices 105-1, 105-2,…105-N
interacting with each other and a plurality of content providers 110-1, 110-2,.. 110-N over a
communication network 115. The communication network 115 may be a wireless or a wired
network, or a combination thereof. The communication network 115 can be implemented as one
of the different types of networks, such as intranet, local area network (LAN), wireless LAN,
such as Wi-Fi, wide area network (WAN), the internet, cellular network, and such. The
communication network 115 may either be a dedicated network or a shared network, which
represents an association of the different types of networks that use a variety of protocols, for
example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), HTTP Secure (HTTPS), Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), etc., to communicate with each other. Further, the
communication network 115 may include Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM)
network, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network, Long Term
Evolution (LTE) network, Personal Communications Service (PCS) network, Time Division
Multiple Access (TDMA) network, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, Next
Generation Network (NGN), Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and Integrated
Services Digital Network (ISDN).
[0023] The plurality of content providers 110-1, 110-2,.. 1110-N may be collectively
referred to as content provider(s) 110. The content providers 110 may be understood as servers
or computing entities corresponding to various web portals, such as Facebook®, Twitter®,
Youtube®, and LinkedIn®. The content provider 110 facilitate sharing of online content among
the plurality of communication devices 105-1, 105-2,…105-N.
[0024] Further, the plurality of communication devices 105-1, 105-2,…105-N may be
collectively referred to as communication device(s) 105. The communication devices 105
include, for example, mobile phones, smart phones, hand-held devices, tablets, and personal
digital assistants (PDAs). Further, the communication device 105, say, the communication
device 105-1 may include one or more processor(s) 120, interface(s) 125, and a memory 130
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coupled to the processor(s) 120. The processor(s) 1220 may be implemented as one or more
microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, central processing
units, state machines, logic circuitries, and/or any devices that manipulate signals based on
operational instructions. Among other capabilities, the processor(s) 120 is configured to fetch
and execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory.
[0025] The interface(s) 125 may include a variety of software and hardware interfaces,
for example, interfaces for peripheral device(s), such as an external memory. Further, the
interfaces 125 may facilitate multiple communications within a wide variety of protocol types
including, operating system to application communication, inter process communication, etc.
[0026] The memory 130 can include any computer-readable medium known in the art
including, for example, volatile memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM) and
dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and/or non-volatile memory, such as read only
memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM, flash memories, hard disks, optical disks, and
magnetic tapes.
[0027] Further, the communication device 105 may include module(s) 135 and data 140.
The modules 135 and the data 140 may be coupled to the processor(s) 120. The modules 135,
amongst other things, include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc.,
which perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The modules 135 may
also be implemented as, signal processor(s), state machine(s), logic circuitries, and/or any other
device or component that manipulate signals based on operational instructions. In another aspect
of the present subject matter, the modules 135 may be computer-readable instructions which,
when executed by a processor/processing unit, perform any of the described functionalities. The
machine-readable instructions may be stored on an electronic memory device, hard disk, optical
disk or other machine-readable storage medium or non-transitory medium. In one
implementation, the computer-readable instructions can be also be downloaded to a storage
medium via a network connection.
[0028] The modules 135 may include a content sharing module 145 and other module(s)
160. The other module(s) 160 may include programs or coded instructions that supplement
applications or functions performed by the communication device 105. The data 140 includes
attribute data 165, retrieved data 170, user response data 175, and other data 180. The other data
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180 amongst other things, may serve as a repository for storing data that is processed, received,
or generated as a result of the execution of one or more modules in the module(s) 135. Further, it
will be understood that the data 140 may stored in a distributed manner, for example, the
retrieved data 170 and the user response data 175 may be stored in a cache memory of the
communication device.
[0029] In an implementation, the communication device 105 may be adapted to perform
one or more selective filtering of online content, providing layered architecture for receiving the
retrieved content, grouping of the retrieved content, and sharing user responses to the retrieved
content in an offline mode. Each of these functionalities is explained in details in the following
paragraphs.
Selective filtering of online content
[0030] In an implementation, the communication device 105 may connect to the
communication network 115 to receive online content pertaining to various web portals a user
corresponding to the communication device 105 may have subscribed for. Based on the type of
network available and user preferences, the communication device 105 may select a network
mode. The network mode indicates type the communication network 115, i.e., cellular or noncellular,
the communication device 105 may connect to for receiving the online content. In an
example, network mode may be a cellular network mode in which the communication device
105 may connect to other devices using the cellular network, or a non-cellular network mode in
which the communication device 105 may connect to other devices using non-cellular network
techniques, such as Wi-Fi.
[0031] Further, the user corresponding to the communication device 105 may also define
a plurality of content filtering attributes prior to downloading the online content. The user may
also be provided with an option to reset the content filtering attributes. In an implementation, the
content sharing module 145 may retrieve the content from the content providers 110, based on
the content filtering attributes. In an example, the content filtering attributes define what content
is to be retrieved from where and when. The content filtering attributes may be stored in the
attribute data 165. Examples of the content filtering attributes include, but are not limited to, a
network mode, a user group, a refresh duration, and a set of web portals. Accordingly, a user can
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define a set of contacts, a set of web portals, and a duration for which the content is to be retrieve
for a given type network mode.
[0032] For example, the user may select to receive only latest online content, say, one
day, for a limited number of contacts from a few web portals, when the communication device
105 is the cellular network mode. In another example, when in the non-cellular network mode,
the user may select to receive online content since last log-in event for all the web portals he is
currently logged on to and for all the contacts he is connected to. It will be understood that even
for the non-cellular mode, the user may opt to receive limited feeds for a selected group of
contacts and web portals.
[0033] Upon determining the content filtering attributes, the content sharing module 145
may accordingly retrieve the content from one or more of the content providers 110. In an
example, the content sharing module 145 may provide a request to the corresponding content
providers to provide content, based on the content filtering attributes. For example, to obtain all
the feeds of a particular user, his/her account ID is sent along with the request and the server then
provides feeds of that particular user only. Alternatively, the content sharing module 145 may
filter the content received from the content providers 110, based on the content filtering
attributes to provide the filtered content.
[0034] Thus, the content sharing module 145 may refresh feeds for only selected web
portals for selected contacts, for selected time period, with a selected network mode. The content
retrieved form the content providers 110 may be stored in the retrieved data 170. Further, the
retrieved content may be provided to a display unit of the communication device 105.
[0035] Thus, the user may only receive the relevant content, which may provide for
reduction in costs incurred, when the communication device 105 is on the cellular network mode.
Additionally, to ensure that the user does not miss out on other feeds, the communication device
105 may be adapted to retrieve all the remaining content, when the communication device 105 is
on the non-cellular mode. Accordingly, the user may save on data and also may not miss out on
other content due to filtering of content.
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Layered architecture for receiving the filtered content and Grouping of the filtered content
[0036] In an implementation, the content sharing module 145 may provide the filtered
content based on a layer architecture. As a first layer, based on the content filtering attributes,
such as the network mode, the content sharing module 145 may provide filtered content, where
the filtered content may include multiple feeds and each feed may include only text portion of
retrieved corresponding feed and indicators illustrating presence of one or more multimedia
content, if present. For instance, if a feed from a selected socialite includes a photograph and a
corresponding description, the corresponding feed may include the description, i.e., the text
portion, and indicators, such as a symbol or a phrase like ‘image’ or ‘multimedia content’.
Further, the content sharing module 145, based on the content filtering attributes, may
accordingly only retrieve text portions from the content provider 110, say, based on a file format
or data size, and may insert indicators for the multimedia content. Alternatively, the request, sent
by the content sharing module 145 to the content provider 110, may indicate the same and
accordingly the content provider 110 may provide the filtered content to the communication
device 105
[0037] It will be appreciated that since the filtered content does not include multimedia
content, data size of the filtered content may be substantially lower than the original version of
the multimedia content and accordingly, the user may save on data usage.
[0038] In an implementation, the content sharing module 145 may provide the filtered
content, based on a categorization attribute. Like content filtering attributes, the categorization
attribute may be stored in the attribute data 165 and may be defined by the user. The
categorization attribute may facilitate categorization feeds from the selected contacts in one or
more categories, where feeds from a category may be provided as a single nested feed. For
example, feeds from Twitter® and Facebook® from a particular socialite can be grouped in one
category and may be provided a as a single nested feed by the content sharing module 145. In
another example, feeds from certain other societies can be grouped together in another category,
such as family or office. Accordingly, feeds from the contacts in a family category may be
provided as a single nested feed and the feeds from the contacts in office category may be
provided as a separate nested feed. Thus, each category may include one or more contacts and
the feeds or content pertaining to the one or more contacts may provided as a single feed.
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[0039] Additionally, the categorization attribute may also define a user’s relevance
model, where feeds pertaining to various categories can be arranged in order of their relevance to
the user. For the purpose, each category may have a priority parameter associated with it. The
priority parameter indicates relevance or priority of the corresponding category over other
categories. Further, the feed from the category having highest priority may be provided first
followed by a feed from a next relevant category. The categorization parameter may be stored in
the attribute data 165. Accordingly, the filtered content may include one or more nested feeds,
which may be categorized into a corresponding category and also be arranged in order of
relevance, based on the categorization attribute.
[0040] Such a grouping of the feeds may enhance user experience as the feeds pertaining
to a given group are provided as a single feed and therefore the user may not have to toggle
among multiple feeds to get the information pertaining to a given set of contacts. For instance, to
get updates for a user from Twitter® as well as Facebook®, the user may not have to toggle
between the two web portals as the feeds from these two web portals are provided in a single
feed to the user. Further, based on the categorization attribute, these feeds may be provided in the
order of priority, thus the user may not have spend time in searching for the feeds pertaining to
relevant contacts.
[0041] Referring back to layered architecture for providing the retrieved content, as the
second layer, the content sharing module 145, upon sharing the filtered content, may ascertain
whether the user wises to receive a compressed version of the multimedia content corresponding
to one or more feeds provide in the filtered content. For instance, the user may tap or click on the
indictor to get the compressed version of the multimedia content. On receiving a request from the
user, the content sharing module 145 may obtain the compressed version from the corresponding
content provider 110 and provide the compressed version of the requested multimedia contents.
As mentioned before, the content sharing module 145 may compress the multimedia content
before providing it to the user or alternatively, the content provider 110 may be requested to
share the compressed version.
[0042] Further, it will be understood that the compressed version may not be as data
intensive as original version of the multimedia content, accordingly at the second layer the user
may not only get a fair idea about the multimedia content but at the same time may also save on
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data. For instance, the compressed version may include thumbnails of the images. In another
example, in case the multimedia content includes a video, the compressed version may be
represented as a static thumbnail.
[0043] Finally, as the last layer, the content sharing module 145 may provide the
multimedia content as received, in case the user wishes to view the original version of the
multimedia content. For instance, on receiving the compressed version, the user may provide a
request to receive the original multimedia content. Upon receiving such a request, the content
sharing module 145 may provide a notification to the user indicating that downloading of the
multimedia content may incur extra costs. If the user responds in affirmation, the content sharing
module 145 obtains the original version of the multimedia content and provides the same to the
user. Thus, in the present case, the user can take an informed decision before his actions go live.
Accordingly, a request that may be provided in error may be later declined by the user.
[0044] Further, it will be understood that the various layers described above may be
arranged in any order, a layer may be deleted or another layer may be added. For example, after
providing filtered content, the original version of the multimedia content may be provided,
without having to first provide the compressed version. The same may be provided by way of
predefined user preferences, which may be stored in the attribute data. Thus, based on the
predefined user preferences, the communication device 105 may not be provided with the
compressed version.
[0045] Thus, due to the layer architecture, the user has the flexibility to view any type of
data by incurring minimum or no extra charges. For example, when the communication device
105 is in the cellular communication mode the user may not wish to view the multimedia content
or may only view the compressed version to save on data usage, and when the communication
device 105 is in the non-cellular mode, the user may download the original version of the
multimedia content to have all the updates and information.
Sharing user responses to the content
[0046] In an implementation, the user may choose to provide inputs to the content, which
may downloaded in a current cycle or may have been downloaded earlier. As mentioned earlier,
the filtered content for the current cycle and the previous ones may be stored in the retrieved data
170. Accordingly, the user may access the retrieved content 170 even when not connected to the
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communication network 115. Further, the user may also provide response(s) to the retrieved
content or the various feeds that may be received. For instance, the user may like a feed, provide
a comment, delete a comment, add another user, etc.
[0047] The user responses may be obtained by the content sharing module 145 and may
be stored in the user response data 175. Further, by way of the content filtering attributes, the
user may define when to upload and what to upload. For instance, the user may have defined that
when in the cellular network mode do not upload responses, or when in the non-cellular mode
upload all the responses. In an example, when the communication device 105 is in the cellular
network mode, on receiving the user response, the content sharing module 145 may provide an
upload notification to the display unit of the communication device 105, or, to say the user. The
upload notification may indicate the amount of data, which will be required for the user
responses to go live. Thus, the content sharing module 145 may determine the amount of data
required for the user responses to go live and accordingly provide the upload notification to aid
the user to take an informed decision. For instance, in case the user is in the cellular network
mode, the upload notification may be provided and if the amount data required to upload the user
responses is large, the user may defer the action and may upload the same when the
communication device 105 is in the non-cellular mode. Alternatively, the user may edit the
responses to reduce the data size.
[0048] Thus, the content sharing module 145 may upload the user responses to
corresponding content providers 110, based on the content filtering attributes, such as the
network mode and availability of network. For example, the user may have defined that the user
response is to be uploaded only when on the non-cellular mode or in all the network modes.
Alternatively or additionally, the user response may be uploaded when sufficient network
connectivity is determined. For instance, content sharing module 145 may ascertain whether the
communication device 105 is connected to the communication network 115 and if connected, is
the network coverage sufficient to upload the user responses. When it is ascertained that the user
responses are to be uploaded, the content sharing module 145 may accordingly upload the user
responses to the corresponding content providers 110 and remove the same from the user
response data175.
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[0049] However, in case it is ascertained that the user response can not be uploaded, the
user response are retained in the user response data 175. Further, once the network connectivity
is established, based on the content filtering attributes, the user response may be uploaded. Thus,
the present subject matter provides a provision of providing a response to the retrieved content
even when the network availability may not be sufficient or when the user is not in a selected
network mode.
[0050] Fig. 2a and Fig 2b illustrate a method 200 for sharing online content on a
communication device, such as the communication device 105, according to an embodiment of
the present matter.
[0051] The order in which the method 200 is described is not intended to be construed as
a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to
implement the method, or any alternative methods. Additionally, individual blocks may be
deleted from the method without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter
described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware,
software, firmware, or combination thereof.
[0052] The method may be described in the general context of computer executable
instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects,
components, data structures, procedures, modules, functions, etc., that perform particular
functions or implement particular abstract data types. The method may also be practiced in a
distributed computing environment where functions are performed by remote processing devices
that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment,
computer executable instructions may be located in both local and remote computer storage
media, including memory storage devices.
[0053] A person skilled in the art will readily recognize that steps of the method 200 can
be performed by programmed computers and communication devices. Herein, some
embodiments are also intended to cover program storage devices, for example, digital data
storage media, which are machine or computer readable and encode machine-executable or
computer-executable programs of instructions, where said instructions perform some or all of the
steps of the described method. The program storage devices may be, for example, digital
memories, magnetic storage media, such as a magnetic disks and magnetic tapes, hard drives, or
17
optically readable digital data storage media. The embodiments are also intended to cover both
communication network and communication devices configured to perform said steps of the
exemplary method.
[0054] At block 205, content filtering attributes that indicate content to be retrieved and
provided are determined. The content filtering attributes may be defined by a user. In an
example, content filtering attributes include a network mode and at least one of a user group, a
set of web portals, and a refresh duration.
[0055] At block 210, based on the content filtering attributes, content from one or more
content providers, such as the content providers 110 is obtained.
[0056] At block 215, obtained content, i.e., filtered content is provided to a display unit
of the communication device 105. The filtered content may include one or more feeds, and based
on the content filtering attributes, each feeds may include a text portion of a corresponding feed
and one or more indicators indicating presence of multimedia content in the feed.
[0057] Further, each feed in the filtered content may be a nested feed. In an example, the
filtered content may be provided based on a categorization attribute, which provides for
categorization of the filtered content into a plurality of categories. Further, feeds pertaining to a
category of the plurality categories may be provided as a nested feed. Additionally, the feeds
pertaining to each of the plurality categories may be provided based on a priority parameter
associated with each of the plurality of categories. The priority parameter may also be defined by
the categorization attribute.
[0058] At block 220, it is ascertained whether the user wishes to view the compressed
version of the multimedia content of one or more feeds included filtered content, based on an
input received from the user. For instance, upon receiving the filtered content, the user may be
interested in receiving multimedia content corresponding to one of the feeds and may therefore
provide a request to receive the compressed version. In case it is ascertained that the user wishes
to view the compressed version of the multimedia content, the method 200 proceeds to (‘Yes’
branch) block 225.
[0059] At block 225, the compressed version of the requested multimedia content is
obtained and provided to the display unit of the communication device 105, or to say, to the user.
18
[0060] At block 230, it is ascertained whether original version corresponding to the
requested compressed version is to be provided, based on an input received form user. In an
example, when a user provides a request to receive the original multimedia content, a download
notification may be provided to the display unit. The download notification, for instance, may
indicate to the user that the downloading of the requested multimedia content may incur extra
costs so that the user can take informed decision. Accordingly, if it is ascertained that the original
multimedia content corresponding to the requested compressed version, the method 200 proceeds
to (‘Yes’ branch) block 235.
[0061] At block 235, original multimedia content corresponding to the requested
compressed version may be obtained from the corresponding content provider and is provided to
the display unit.
[0062] Referring to block 220, if it is ascertained that the compressed version of the
requested multimedia content is not to be provided, the method branches to (‘No’ branch) block
240. Similarly, if at block 230 it is ascertained that the original version of the multimedia content
is not to be provided, the method branches to (‘No’ branch) block 240.
[0063] At block 240, responses provided by the user to content provided to the user are
received. The content includes content pertaining to various web portals. In an example, the
content may include the filtered content provided in a current download cycle or content that
may have been downloaded previously.
[0064] At block 245, an upload notification is provided to the display unit, based on the
user responses and the content filtering attributes, such as the network mode. The upload
notification may indicate a data size of the user responses. In other words, the upload notification
indicates amount of data, which will be required for the user responses to go live. Further, in an
example, the upload notification may be provided, when the user is in the cellular network mode.
[0065] At block 250, it may be ascertained whether the user responses are to be
uploaded. For example, it may be ascertained, in response to the upload notification, whether the
still user wishes to upload the user responses. If yes, it may be further ascertained whether the
user responses can be uploaded based on at least one of the content filtering attribute and the
availability of the network. If it is ascertained that the user responses are not to be uploaded, the
method 200 proceeds to (‘No’ Branch) block 255.
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[0066] At block 255, the user responses are retained in a memory storage, for example, in
cache memory of the communication device 105.
[0067] However, if at 250, it is ascertained that user responses are to be uploaded, the
method 200 proceeds to (‘Yes’ branch) block 260. At block 260, the user responses are provided
to the corresponding content provider. Accordingly, the user responses stored in the cache may
be uploaded, when it is ascertained that for example, network availability is sufficient to upload
when the communication device is in the non-cellular mode, or when an input from the user
indicates that the user response is to be uploaded.
[0068] Although embodiments for methods and systems for the present subject matter
have been described in a language specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be
understood that the present subject matter is not necessarily limited to the specific features or
methods described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as exemplary
embodiments for the present subject matter.
20
I/We claim:
1. A communication device (105) for managing content comprising:
a display unit;
a processor (120); and
a content sharing module (145) coupled to the processor (120) to:
determine one or more content filtering attributes to filter content to be
retrieved from one or more content providers (110), the one or more content
filtering attributes being selected by a user of the communication device (105);
obtain filtered content based on the one or more content filtering
attributes;
provide filtered content to the display unit wherein the filtered content
includes one or more feeds including text pertaining to a corresponding feed and
one or more indicators illustrating that the corresponding feed includes a
multimedia content;
ascertain, based on user input, whether the user wishes to receive a
compressed version of the multimedia content, wherein a data size of the
compressed version of the multimedia content is less than a data size of an
original version of the multimedia; and
obtain, based on the ascertainment, the compressed version of the
multimedia content from a corresponding content provider (110) to provide the
compressed view of the multimedia content to the display unit of the
communication device (105).
2. The communication device (105) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the one or more content
filtering attributes comprise a network mode, and at least one of a user group, a set of
web portals, and a refresh duration.
3. The communication device (105) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the content sharing
module (145) further:
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upon providing the compressed version, receives a request from the user to
download the original version corresponding to the compressed version of the multimedia
content;
in response to the request, provides a download notification to the user indicating
that downloading of the original version will incur extra cost;
ascertains whether the user wishes to receive the original version, based on an
input received from the user in response to the notification; and
obtain, based on the ascertainment, the original version of the multimedia content
from the corresponding content provider to provide to the display unit.
4. The communication device (105) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the content sharing
module (145) further categorizes each of a plurality of feeds into a corresponding
category, based on a categorization attribute, and wherein feeds pertaining to each
category are provided as a nested feed, and wherein each of the one or more feeds of the
filtered content is the nested feed.
5. The communication device (105) as claimed in claim 4, wherein the content sharing
module (145) arranges the nested feed pertaining to each category in an order of
relevance, based on a priority parameter associated with each category.
6. The communication device (105) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the content sharing
module (145) further:
receives a user response to retrieved content, the retrieved content including the
filtered content and content downloaded previously;
ascertains whether the user response is to be uploaded, based on at least one of the
one or more content filtering attributes, and availability of a network connection, the one
or more content filtering attribute including a network mode; and
in response to the ascertaining performs one of:
stores the user response, when it is ascertained that the user response cannot
be uploaded; and
provides the user response to a corresponding content provider when it is
ascertained that user response is to be uploaded.
7. The communication device (105) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the compressed version
is provided, based on a predefined user preference.
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8. A communication device (105) for managing content comprising:
a processor (120);
a content sharing module (145) coupled to the processor (120) to:
receive a user response for content pertaining one or more web portals;
ascertain whether the user response is to be uploaded, based on one or
more content filtering attributes indicating at least a network mode; and
in response to the ascertaining, performing one of:
store the user response, when it is ascertained that the user
response cannot be uploaded; and
provide the user response to a corresponding content provider
(110) when it is ascertained that the user response is to be uploaded.
9. The communication device (105) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the ascertaining is
further based on availability of a network connection.
10. The communication device (105) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the content sharing
module (145) further:
determines content filtering attributes to filter content to be retrieved from one or
more content providers (110), the one or more content filtering attributes being selected
by a user of the communication device (105);
provides the filtered content including one or more feeds to a display unit of the
communication device (105), each of the one or more feeds including text pertaining to a
corresponding feed and one or more indicators illustrating that the corresponding feed
includes multimedia content;
ascertains whether the user wishes to receive a compressed version of the
multimedia content included in at least one feed of the filtered content, based on an input
received from the user in response to the providing, wherein the compressed version has
a data size less than a data size of an original version of the multimedia; and
obtains, based on the ascertainment, the compressed version of the multimedia
content from a corresponding content provider (110) to provide the compressed version
of the multimedia content to the display unit of the communication device (105).
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11. The communication device (105) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the content sharing
module (145) further:
upon providing the compressed version, receives a request from the user to
download the original version corresponding to the compressed version of the multimedia
content;
in response to the request, provides a download notification to the user indicating
that downloading of the original version will incur extra cost;
ascertains whether the user wishes to receive the original version, based on an
input received from the user in response to the notification; and
obtains, based on the ascertainment, the original version of the multimedia
content from the corresponding content provider to provide to the display unit.
12. The communication device (105) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the one or more content
filtering attributes include at least one of a user group, a set of web portals, and a refresh
duration.
13. A method for sharing content comprising:
determining one or more content filtering attributes to filter content to be retrieved
from one or more content providers (110), the one or more content filtering attributes
being selected by a user of a communication device (105);
obtaining filtered content based on the one or more content filtering attributes;
providing the filtered content to a display unit wherein the filtered content
includes one or more feeds including text pertaining to a corresponding feed and one or
more indicators illustrating that the corresponding feed includes a multimedia content;
ascertaining whether the user wishes to receive an original version of the
multimedia content included in at least one feed of the filtered content, based on an input
received from the user in response to the providing; and
obtaining, based on the ascertaining, the original version of the multimedia
content from a corresponding content provider (110) to provide the original version of the
multimedia content to the display unit of the communication device (105).
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14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the one or more content filtering attributes
include a network mode and at least one of a user group, a set of web portals, and a
refresh duration.
15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the ascertaining further includes:
determining whether the user wishes to receive a compressed version of the
multimedia content corresponding to the original version, based on at least one of a
predefined user preference and an input received from the user;
obtaining, based on the determining, the compressed version of the multimedia
content from the corresponding content provider;
upon providing the compressed version, receiving a request from the user to
download the original version; and
in response to the request, providing a download notification to the user indicating
that downloading of the original version will incur extra cost, wherein the original
version is downloaded based on an input from the user to the download notification.
16. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises categorizing
each of a plurality of feeds into a corresponding category, based on a categorization
attribute, and wherein feeds pertaining to each category are provided as a nested feed, and
wherein each of the one or more feeds of the filtered content is the nested feed.
17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein the method further comprises arranging the
nested feed pertaining to each category in an order of relevance, based on a priority
parameter associated with each category.
18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:
receiving a user response to retrieved content, the retrieved content including the
filtered content and content downloaded previously;
ascertaining whether the user response is to be uploaded, based on the one or
content filtering attributes and availability of a network connection, the one or more
content filtering attribute including a network mode; and
in response to the ascertaining, performing one of:
storing the user response, when it is ascertained that the user response can not
be uploaded; and
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providing the user response to a corresponding content provider when it is
ascertained that user response is to be uploaded.
19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein ascertaining whether the user response is to
be uploaded further comprises:
providing an upload notification indicating a data size of the user response,
when the network mode is cellular network mode; and
receiving an input from the user indicating whether the user response is to be
uploaded.
20. A method for sharing content comprising:
receiving a user response for retrieved content, the retrieved content including
content downloaded from one or more content providers (110);
ascertaining whether the user response is to be uploaded, based on at least one of
one or more content filtering attributes and availability of network connection, the or
more content filtering attributes including a network mode; and
in response to the ascertaining, performing one of:
storing the user response, when it is ascertained that the user response cannot be
uploaded; and
providing the user response to a corresponding content provider (110) when it is
ascertained that user response is to be uploaded.
21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the method further comprises:
determining content filtering attributes to filter content to be retrieved from the
one or more content providers (110), the one or more content filtering attributes being
selected by a user of a communication device (105);
providing the filtered content including one or more feeds to a display unit of the
communication device (105), each of the one or more feeds including text pertaining to a
corresponding feed and one or more indicators illustrating that the corresponding feed
includes multimedia content;
ascertaining whether the user wishes to receive a compressed version of the
multimedia content included in at least one feed of the filtered content, based on at least
one of a predefined user preference and an input received from the user in response to the
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providing, wherein the compressed version has a data size less than a data size of an
original version of the multimedia;
obtaining, based on the ascertaining, the compressed version of the multimedia
content from a corresponding content provider (110) to provide the compressed version
of the multimedia content to the display unit of the communication device (105).
22. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:
upon providing the compressed version, receiving a request from the user to
download the original version corresponding to the compressed version of the multimedia
content;
in response to the request, providing a download notification to the user indicating
that downloading of the original version will incur extra cost;
ascertaining whether the user wishes to receive the original version, based on an
input received from the user in response to the download notification; and
obtaining, based on the ascertainment, the original version of the multimedia
content from the corresponding content provider to provide to the display unit.
23. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:
categorizing each of a plurality of feeds into a corresponding category, based on a
categorization attribute, and wherein feeds pertaining to each category are provided as a
nested feed, and wherein each of the one or more feeds of the filtered content is the
nested feed; and
arranging the nested feed pertaining to each category in an order of relevance,
based on a priority parameter associated with each category.