Abstract:
In one embodiment, method that can be performed on a system, is provided for fine and course grained authorization of personal feed contents. In one embodiment, the method comprises generating one or more profiles, each profile to receive one or more feeds over a network, the feeds for each profile selected based on one or more of pre-identification of a selected feed and pre-identified content; and for each profile, providing one or more selected users with access to the feeds of the respective profiles.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    As feeds of various natures become more and more important to daily use of data, improved readers become available that present the feeds as pseudo-static updated content. It is desirable to be able to use these feeds and also to be able share certain parts of the feeds with other people, such as co-workers. 
         [0002]    What is clearly needed is a system and method that allows either fine- or coarse-grained authorization of personal feed contents to be shared with others. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    In one embodiment, method that can be performed on a system, is provided for fine and course grained authorization of personal feed contents. In one embodiment, the method comprises generating one or more profiles, each profile to receive one or more feeds over a network, the feeds for each profile selected based on one or more of pre-identification of a selected feed and pre-identified content; and for each profile, providing one or more selected users with access to the feeds of the respective profiles. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES 
         [0004]      FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary system with, among other elements, feed reader and Internet, in accordance with one embodiment; 
           [0005]      FIG. 2  presents shows an exemplary process of reader, in accordance with one embodiment; and 
           [0006]      FIG. 3  presents an exemplary process whereby the primary user may configure a profile for a secondary user. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical, functional, and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims. 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  shows an exemplary system  100  with, among other elements, feed reader  103  and Internet  101 . Internet  101  contains a number of feed sources  102   a - n , which sources could publish feeds in formats such as RSS, Atom, etc. A feed, as referenced herein, includes the electronic distribution of text, audio or video. A feed may refer to a syndicated radio or TV program that is transmitted on a regular basis, or to a text and graphics feed that is available on a Web site or blog. 
         [0009]    Various different users could be reading the output of reader  103 , such as, for example, primary user  106 , and also secondary users  107   a - n  who could be, for example, family members, secretary, colleagues, or any other such users associated with primary user  106 . Attached to reader  103  is a permission control system  104 , which contains a multitude of profiles  105   a - n . These profiles may be used to determine the output that is available to secondary users  107   a - n.    
         [0010]    For example, the permission control system may be implemented such that secondary users must log in specifically to see the primary user&#39;s items as he makes them available; or in other cases the control system may be integrated into the secondary user&#39;s reader content through a shared system. In such a case, for example, multiple instances of permission control system  104  could be cross-integrated with one another, and multiple instances of reader  103  may also be cross integrated. 
         [0011]    Profiles may contain information about various feeds and also about various types of content from any one feed. Thus the permissions and exclusions may be set on a per-feed (coarse-grained) basis and also on a content-type (fine-grained) basis. 
         [0012]      FIG. 2  shows an exemplary process  200  of reader  103 . In step  2011  the feed and content permission tables  104  are loaded. In step  202 , the feeds  102   a - n  are sought on the Internet and contracted for new content. In step  203 , the data is obtained and in step  204  the data is displayed. Then in step  205  the process ends. It is clear that this exemplary method is a simplification. Typically, the process depicted in  FIG. 2  could loop from step  205  back to step  201  automatically on a frequent basis, such as every 1 minute, every 5 minutes, every 30 minutes, and so forth. In other cases, a user could set different run frequencies for each of various different feeds and various types of content. 
         [0013]      FIG. 3  shows an exemplary process  300  whereby the primary user  106  may configure a profile for a secondary user such as, for example, his secretary. In step  301 , the primary user  106  adds a profile, thus creating a new profile  105 × within his permission control system  104 . In step  302  user  106  configures the new profile  105   x  by, for example, adding specific feeds and content types from his own profile, or, in other cases, by copying a prior profile  105   y  and editing (adding and removing) the various feeds and content types to create profile  105   x . In step  303 , user  106  enables access to profile  105   x  for one or more secondary users. In step  304 , the secondary user is notified that he now has access to feeds and content available through his profile  105   x , and in step  305 , the process ends. 
         [0014]    In one embodiment, The primary user (i.e. agent, supervisor, boss, HR etc.) would typically enter a secondary users (customer, employee etc.) id, and then set up a profile. In most cases, the secondary user would already be a user in an existing account of another system (i.e. e-service portal), so “checking” a box on that users (customers, employee etc.) account in the other system profile would enable to transfer all relevant information into this new profile. In other cases, a process or filter is used to determine for which customers to create profiles automatically. In yet other cases, an invite is issued to a customer to set up his own profile. 
         [0015]    One additional exemplary case of the present invention is by associating role to content-type or permission type. For instance, a user could configure the role of manger to be able to see anything purchased under their work profile. The role of delegate could be configured to see all travel related data. The role of all might be allowed to see any public data. 
         [0016]    The processes described above can be stored in a memory of a computer system as a set of instructions to be executed. In addition, the instructions to perform the processes described above could alternatively be stored on other forms of machine-readable media, including magnetic and optical disks. For example, the processes described could be stored on machine-readable media, such as magnetic disks or optical disks, which are accessible via a disk drive (or computer-readable medium drive). Further, the instructions can be downloaded into a computing device over a data network in a form of compiled and linked version. 
         [0017]    Alternatively, the logic to perform the processes as discussed above could be implemented in additional computer and/or machine readable media, such as discrete hardware components as large-scale integrated circuits (LSI&#39;s), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC&#39;s), firmware such as electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM&#39;s); and electrical, optical, acoustical and other forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); etc.