Abstract: The technology described herein is directed towards content rights data that are associated with content (a data item) to make that content selectively available or unavailable in responses by a data service to client requests. A client includes client content rights data in association with each request, (e.g., via a token), and the data service uses that client content rights data as query parameters (constraint criteria) in making a request for a data item. Client content rights data also may be used for accessing cached data. Availability constraints may include client location, brand, channel, device class and time (commence and cease).

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards determining the rendering of user interface (UI) elements, referred to as views, based upon styles, in which styles comprise property values such as color value data, font data, border data, position data, and/or animation-related data applied to a view. A view object instance is returned upon request based upon an identifier that is used to select an unstyled view object and a style applied to that view object. The styles may be maintained as a fixed set of styles for a runtime session.

Abstract: The described technology is generally directed towards an abstraction and file model used for subscriber service and publisher service communication. The abstraction and file model enables dynamically changing the underlying communication mechanisms and introducing optimizations such as caching (reducing latency) and batching (improving bandwidth utilization) transparently, without any change to the subscriber or publisher code. The abstraction also facilitates introducing intermediate lightweight message-oriented middleware and provides for transparently scaling communication.

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards presenting a server overload condition that can result from a spike in client requests. Upon receiving an incoming client request for data at a server, a request buffer condition of a client request buffer (e.g., a counter) is evaluated to determine whether the client request corresponds to an anticipated overload state with respect to a request-handling capability of the server, e.g., whether the client request buffer is full. If so, an overload response (e.g., a retry response) is returned to the client indicating so that the client retries a corresponding client request after a time delay. If not in the anticipated overload state, the request is further processed, e.g., to provide a regular response containing the requested data, such as by adding a request information entry associated with the incoming client request to the client request buffer and updating the request buffer condition.

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards a cache framework that accesses a tier of ordered caches, in tier order, to satisfy requests for data. The cache framework may be implemented at a front-end service level server, and/or a back end service level server, or both. The cache framework handles read-through and write-through operations, including handling batch requests for multiple data items. The cache framework also facilitates dynamically changing the tier structure, e.g., for adding, removing, replacing and/or reordering caches in the tier, e.g., by re-declaring a data structure such as an array that identifies the tiered cache configuration.

Abstract: The described technology is generally directed towards detecting and propagating changes that affect information maintained in a cache. Data may be pre-cached in advance of its actual need, however such data can change, including in various different source locations. A change monitoring/signaling service detects relevant changes and publishes change events to downstream listeners, including to a cache population service that updates pre-cache data as needed in view of such data changes. Per-user-specific data also may be pre-cached, such as when a user logs into a data service.

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards efficiently invalidating cached data (e.g., expired data) in a hash-mapped cache, e.g., on a timed basis. As a result, data is able returned from the cache without checking for whether that data is expired, (if desired and acceptable), because if expired, the data is only briefly expired since the last invalidation run. To this end, a data structure such as a linked list is maintained to track information representative of hash-mapped cache locations of a hash-mapped cache, in which the information tracks a sequential order of entering data into each hash-mapped cache location. An invalidation run is performed on part of the hash mapped cache, including using the tracking information to invalidate a sequence of one or more cache locations, e.g., only the sequence of those locations that contain expired data.

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards obtaining and returning time offset data instead of current data in response to a data request. The time offset data may be limited to privileged clients only, and only provided thereto when desired, using a time offset value set by the client, for example. For example, a privileged user may request time offset data corresponding to a future time so as to preview how the data may be presented at a future time. Time offset data may be used by a system entity to fill a cache, e.g., as secondary cached data that may be used once primary cached data expires.

Abstract: The described technology is generally directed towards matching subscriber services to publisher services based on any number of arbitrary subscriber-specified attributes. In general, each publisher services register its capabilities as a set of attributes in a repository data store, e.g., a database. When a subscriber service wants a matching publisher service, the subscriber service specifies which attributes the subscriber service wants matched, and the repository's affiliated matching process uses the registered attributes of the publisher services to seek a match.

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards sending metadata related to a video to a client device, such as events that describe a portion of that video, such as in a hidden stream. In one or more implementations, the enhanced metadata comprises nodes used to build part of a relationship graph. This allows interested clients to switch between the feature playback and interacting with the metadata. Further, searches through the enhanced metadata may be performed to find matching video portions, and summaries or highlights of one or more videos may be assembled by accessing information in the enhanced metadata.

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards having user interface objects rendered on a client device based upon provider data of at least part of a client provider graph. The client provider graph comprises a plurality of providers (graph nodes), in which each provider has provider data corresponding to user interface object data. The data of one provider has a reference set containing one or more references (e.g., edges) that each identify another provider, thus forming the graph. Client requests for other provider data are made based upon the reference set. The other provider data is received in response to the client requests, and is maintained at the client (e.g., in a client cache) to build the client graph.

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards maintaining a cache of data items, with cached data items having current value subsets and next value subsets. The cache is accessed for data item requests, to return a cache miss if a requested data item is not cached, to return data from the current value subset if not expired, to return data from the next value subset if the current value subset is expired and the next value subset is not expired, or to return a cache miss (or expired data) if both subsets are expired. Cached data items are refreshed, (e.g., periodically), when a data item's current value subset is expired by replacing the data item's current value subset with the next value subset and caching a new next value subset, or caching a new next value subset when the next value subset will expire within a threshold time.

Abstract: The described technology is generally directed towards batching two or more data requests into a batch request that is sent to a data-providing entity such as a client data access layer coupled to a data service. Described is maintaining a mapping of the requests to requesting entities so that the responses to a batched request, which may be separately streamed, may be assembled into a batch response to the requesting entity. Also described is multiplexing a plurality of requests for the same data item into a single request, which may be added to a batch request, and de-multiplexing the single response into separate responses to each requesting entity.

Abstract: The described technology is generally directed towards a surf mode of operation for streaming content such as video content, in which different content is arranged as different channels though which a user can surf by changing the streaming channels. The starting times of the different content can be staggered. Aspects comprise streaming first content corresponding to a first interactively selectable streaming channel to an output device, receiving a change request to change to a second interactively selectable streaming channel, and in response to the receiving the change request, streaming second content corresponding to the second interactively selectable streaming channel to the output device.

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards having multiple paths through streamed media content, such as a video. The content may be represented as a state machine of states, in which each state corresponds to one or more periods of one or more segments, and transitions to one or more other states. When a state is able to transition to different states, one or more criteria may be used to select one of the transition paths to a next state. Segments corresponding to unknown paths (where the transition decision is not yet available) may be selected and streamed for buffering via a multiple path buffering mechanism.

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards an object-oriented programming (OOP) system and library that maps conventional object-oriented concepts such as class hierarchies, interfaces, and static methods and properties onto a prototypal object system such as JavaScript®. Various functions of the OOP system are called to create a class-like structure that is instantiated into an object instance upon request. The OOP system allows for use of a wrapper pattern to wrap selected objects with added functionality such as validation and tracing, and to provide enhanced functionality with respect to properties, such as to call a function associated with a property when the property's value changes, and/or to lazily generate property values only when accessed.

Abstract: The described technology is directed towards repurposing expired cached data when no unexpired data is available. Cached, unexpired data is used in response to a request when such data exists. If such data does not exist, e.g., at a front-end data service, then an attempt to obtain the requested data from another (e.g., back-end data service) is made. If the attempt is unsuccessful, and expired cached data exists, the expired cached data is returned in response to the request, e.g., instead of returning an error. A back-end data service may similarly return expired cached data when the back-end data service is unable to obtain unexpired requested data elsewhere. An emergency mode may be entered in which data, whether expired or not, is returned from a cache when such data exists, such as when an attempt to obtain the data elsewhere is known in advance to be futile.

Abstract: Determining the rendering of user interface (UI) elements, referred to as views, based upon styleable transitions between possible states of a view. Transitions may include animation, such as to smoothly enter a view into or exit a view out of a scene over a number of rendering frames. Transitions also may be applied to view state changes related to a UI element, such as to indicate hovered over, focused, listening (for speech), selected and/or pressed. View state changes also may be animated.

Abstract: The described technology is generally directed towards predicting a need for provisioned (e.g., cloud computing) resources so that the provisioned resources are proactively provisioned and operational before their actual need. Historical data is used to predict upcoming resource demand so that resources begin to be scaled up to meet demand in advance, at a prediction time, given that there is a “spin-up” delay between requesting resources and their actual availability. The predictive resource provisioning is adaptable to override customary historical data with expected exceptions, and is flexible to handle variable spin-up times, constraints, and optimizations.