Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to back-end systems for feed aggregators. More particularly, embodiments relate to the use of time-outs to automatically discontinue data retrieval from aggregator feed sources.
Online content may be syndicated by various content producers in the form of social networking activity streams, RSS (Resource Description Framework/RDF Site Summary) feeds, Atom feeds, other event based activity streams, etc., wherein feed aggregators can enable users to subscribe to feeds from different content producers and display the data together. It may not be uncommon for users to subscribe to certain feeds and rarely, if ever, actually interact with those feeds. In such a case, a back-end system may be configured to automatically retrieve data from feed sources although the data is not being read by any subscribers associated with the back-end system. Accordingly, performance bottlenecks may result, particularly in enterprise scenarios in which support for a large number of users and/or subscriptions may lead to large volumes of feed data.
Embodiments may include a computer program product having a computer readable storage medium and computer usable code stored on the computer readable storage medium. If executed by a processor, the computer usable code may cause a computer to determine an inactivity period with respect to a feed source, and identify a user time-out threshold corresponding to the feed source. The computer usable code may also cause a computer to generate a re-subscription prompt if the inactivity period exceeds the time-out threshold.
Embodiments may also include a computer implemented method in which an inactivity period is determined with respect to a feed source, and a user time-out threshold corresponding to the feed source is identified. The method may also provide for generating a re-subscription prompt if the inactivity period exceeds the user time-out threshold. In addition, a user may be re-subscribed to the feed source if a confirmation response to the re-subscription prompt is received from the user. If, on the other hand, a confirmation response to the re-subscription prompt is not received from the user, the method may provide for unsubscribing the user from the feed source. Moreover, data retrieval from the feed source may be discontinued if the feed source lacks any remaining subscribers in an automated feed retrieval system. Discontinuing the data retrieval can include deleting a feed handler plug-in associated with the feed source, wherein discontinuing the data retrieval may reduce a network demand associated with the automated feed retrieval system.
Embodiments may also include a computer program product having a computer readable storage medium and computer usable code stored on the computer readable storage medium. If executed by a processor, the computer usable code may cause a computer to determine an inactivity period with respect to a feed source, and identify a user time-out threshold corresponding to the feed source. Additionally, the computer usable code can cause a computer to generate a re-subscription prompt if the inactivity period exceeds the user time-out threshold, and re-subscribe a user to the feed source if a confirmation response to the re-subscription prompt is received from the user. If, on the other hand, a confirmation response to the re-subscription prompt is not received from the user, the computer usable code may cause a computer to unsubscribe the user from the feed source. The computer usable code can also cause a computer to discontinue data retrieval from the feed source if the feed source lacks any remaining subscribers in an automated feed retrieval system. Discontinuing the data retrieval may include a deletion of a feed handler plug-in associated with the feed source and a reduction of a network demand associated with the automated feed retrieval system.
The various advantages of the embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art by reading the following specification and appended claims, and by referencing the following drawings, in which:
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.
Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.
Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
Referring now to
In particular, a queue 20 may accumulate data and/or events from the activity streams 18, wherein the accumulated information may be filtered and otherwise modified via various subscriber front-end tools such as client applications 22, formatting tools 24, analytics and search tools 26, metrics and filtering tools 28, and so forth. The result may be a “river of news” output 30 that can be stored and/or tracked in a database 32 or other suitable storage solution. As will be discussed in greater detail, the illustrated feed retrieval system 10 may reduce the network demand associated with extracting information from the activity streams 18 by automatically recognizing stale feed subscriptions and discontinuing data retrieval from the feed sources corresponding to those subscriptions.
Illustrated block 38 identifies a user time-out threshold for the feed source, wherein the user time-out threshold may be a system-wide value, user configurable (e.g., stored in a user profile), and so forth. For example, the user time-out threshold might be thirty days. A determination may therefore be made at block 40 as to whether the inactivity period exceeds the user time-out threshold. If so, a re-subscription prompt can be generated at block 42. The re-subscription prompt may be presented to the user in an effort to confirm the user's continuing interest in the feed source. Thus, the prompt might include a message such as “It has been over thirty days since you accessed feed XYZ. Please confirm that you would like to continue your subscription.” The prompt may be communicated to the user via a web interface, text message, instant messaging (IM) interface or other suitable interface. The method 34 may be repeated for each user of a feed source, and for each feed source from which data is retrieved.
Turning now to
In addition, block 52 may determine whether the feed source in question has any remaining subscribers. If not, feed retrieval from the feed source may be discontinued at block 54. In one example, discontinuing the feed retrieval involves deleting a feed handler plug-in associated with the feed source. The use of feed handler plug-ins can facilitate the process of optimizing data extraction by providing a high level of modularity, which can make the system more scalable. Moreover, discontinuing the feed retrieval may reduce the network demand associated with the automated feed retrieval system. The method 44 may be repeated for each outstanding re-subscription prompt, as already noted.
Thus, techniques described herein may provide a framework based on a pluggable architecture that facilitates the aggregation of data from one or many sources into one or more containers. The framework can provide all services needed to handle communication with and integration of feed sources and containers. In one example, the framework runs on an application server as a background task that pulls feeds from third party sources, maps the feeds to standard events, and posts the events to one or more user configurable containers.
More particularly, the framework can enable events to be persisted into a database, wherein an appropriate API (application programming interface) may be used to configure the framework to support user profiles, etc. Additionally, high availability and error handling/recovery can be achieved, particularly in view of the ability to reduce network demand. The framework may also provide a standard events definition and a pluggable architecture in which handlers map to standard interfaces. Moreover, the framework can monitor the system and check how often events are generated, detecting time-outs when users are not interacting with third party sources. In addition, feed refresh intervals may be monitored in real-time and used to calculate how often feeds should be pulled. If the framework changes a setting or an error occurs, techniques described herein may also generate internal events and deliver them to the user.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. In addition, the terms “first”, “second”, etc. may be used herein only to facilitate discussion, and carry no particular temporal or chronological significance unless otherwise indicated.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate from the foregoing description that the broad techniques of the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while the embodiments of this invention have been described in connection with particular examples thereof, the true scope of the embodiments of the invention should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the drawings, specification, and following claims.