System and method for content syndication service

Abstract

A method for providing content syndication to subscribers. The method includes receiving one or more content items from a plurality of information sources. One or more tags are assigned to the one or more content items, the one or more tags indicating a taxonomy of the one or more content items. One or more keywords associated with the one or more content items and a media type of the one or more content items are identified. The one or more content items are indexed with the one or more tags, the one or more keywords, and the media type. The method further includes retrieving the one or more content items based on the one or more tags, the one or more keywords, and the media type.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for providing content syndication to subscribers, the method comprising:
 receiving one or more content items from a plurality of information sources;   assigning one or more tags to the one or more content items, the one or more tags indicating a taxonomy of the one or more content items;   identifying one or more keywords associated with the one or more content items;   identifying a media type of the one or more content items;   indexing the one or more content items with the one or more tags, the one or more keywords, and the media type; and   retrieving the one or more content items based on the one or more tags, the one or more keywords, and the media type.   
     
     
         2 . A method for providing content syndication to subscribers, the method comprising:
 receiving a request for one or more desired content items from a corpus;   generating a feed definition for the one or more desired content items;   receiving a selection of one or more taxonomies for the one or more desired content items;   receiving one or more keywords for the one or more desired content items;   receiving a selection of a media type for the one or more desired content items;   characterizing the one or more desired content items on the basis of the one or more taxonomies, the one or more keywords, and the media type;   associating the characterization of the one or more desired content items with the feed definition; and   storing the feed definition to retrieve content from the corpus matching the feed definition.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the one or more taxonomies include at least one of a topic, target, type, origin, and purpose. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the media type is at least one of an article and a digital asset. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising receiving a recency criterion for the one or more desired content items. 
     
     
         6 . A method for providing content syndication to subscribers, the method comprising:
 identifying one or more content items matching a feed definition, the feed definition specifying a desired type of content according to one or more taxonomies, one or more keywords, a media type, a recency criterion, and a specified delivery method;   populating a queue with a list of the identified one or more content items;   retrieving the one or more identified content items on the list from the queue based on the media type of the feed definition; and   delivering the one or more content items based on the specified delivery method of the feed definition.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the one or more content items are delivered using a SOAP transmission in response to a retrieval request. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising embedding a tracking object within the one or more identified content items. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 receiving information from the tracking object when the one or more identified content items are viewed; and   generating a report with the received information.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising determining a subscription fee based on the received information. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 5  further comprising associating subscribers to the feed definition. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein delivering the one or more content items comprises delivering the one or more content items to a subscriber of the feed definition. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 6  wherein delivering the one or more content items comprises:
 generating one or more files including the one or more identified content items on the list; and 
 delivering the one or more files. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein generating one or more files comprises:
 determining the media type of the feed definition; and 
 extracting the one or more identified content items into the one or more files. 
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein extracting the one or more identified content items comprises extracting one or more links into the one or more files. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14  wherein extracting the one or more identified content items comprises extracting one or more images into the one or more files. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 identifying one or more updated content items matching the feed definition; and   populating the queue with a list of the identified one or more updated content items.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 6  further comprising receiving FTP site credentials. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein delivering the one or more content items comprises:
 generating one or more files including the one or more identified content items on the list; 
 accessing a FTP site using the FTP site credentials; and 
 delivering the one or more files to the FTP site. 
 
     
     
         20 . A system for providing content syndication to subscribers, the system comprising:
 a content database configured to store one or more tags and keywords with a plurality of content items;   a syndication database configured to store a plurality of feed definitions, each feed definition specifying a desired type of content according to one or more selected taxonomies and keywords;   a processor; and   a memory having executable instructions stored thereon that when executed by the processor cause the processor to:   identify one or more content items from the content database with one or more tags and keywords matching a given one of the plurality of feed definitions;   populate a queue with a list of the identified one or more content items; and   retrieve the one or more identified content items on the list from the queue.