US Patent 9449308 Defining actions for data streams via icons

Embodiments provide visual programming constructs including icons representing conditions and actions for processing incoming data streams. A user selects icons corresponding to at least one of the conditions and at least one of the actions to define a rule. The selected condition relates to at least one element possibly present in the incoming data stream. Without compilation of the rule, at least one incoming data stream is analyzed based on the condition to detect a presence of the element within the incoming data stream. The action is performed based on the analysis. In some embodiments, formatting of the incoming data streams is altered according to the conditions and actions to personalize the incoming data stream.