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Description  |
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BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to modifying documents sent over a
communications network, and in particular to a system and method for
determining the information contents of document portions and replacing
undesired document portions with substitute document portions or inserting
substitute document portions.
2. Description of Prior Art
To a large degree, the information age has been brought about by rapid
advances in the field of communications and communications networks in
particular. Increasingly, information which could formerly be presented in
tangible, permanent media is reformatted and rendered for display on
screens and monitors. Virtually any information presentable as text or
text and graphics is being converted into suitable electronic messages or
packets for shuttling across a communications network.
A communications network, e.g., the Internet, has an architecture in which
information packets from resources or content providers is made available
through service providers to users who subscribe to the service. The
actual transmission takes place over the communication links of various
bandwidths and types which make up the network. Content providers
typically store this electronic data on server machines connected directly
to the Internet in standard format. The data is broken down into packets
and these are then transmitted over the communication link. Among the
diverse types of information which may be placed on the Internet in this
way are articles, news briefs and updates, weather maps, books, summaries,
files, software, catalogues, documents, pictorials, video files, public
records, commercial literature and so forth.
Clearly, the number of packets which can be transmitted via a
communications network is vast and varied. To aid in sorting, routing and
transmitting information on the Internet the content of any given packet
is usually identified by its origin (address of the content provider), a
brief summary located in a conspicuous portion of the packet (e.g., in the
header) or some other identification information. For example, the
Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) protocol followed by NetWare routers,
distributed by Novell, Inc., execute a so-called Routing Information
Protocol (RIP) and Service Advertising Protocol (SAP). The RIP protocol
involves periodic RIP broadcast packets containing all routing information
known to the router. These packets are used to keep the global network
synchronized. In addition, the protocol provides for periodically sending
SAP broadcast packets containing all server information known to the SAP
agent. Thus, the network system keeps track of the contents of the various
packets to facilitate transfer, mitigate traffic problems and perform
other vital operations.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,852 issued to Meske, Jr. et al. the inventors
disclose a method and system for receiving information in a first file
written in a first markup language and identifying the information
contents. The method and system ensure that even complex packets of
information are processed by generating a list of profiles and topics for
each list of the profiles. Secondary and tertiary files are created with
anchors referencing particular information in the first file. A parsing
procedure is taught by Meske to ascertain whether any information in the
first file (original packet) is relevant. If so, fourth and fifth files
containing the desired information are created and sent to the user.
Meske's system and method can be adapted to block or filter entire packets
or portions thereof on a content-basis before performing the necessary
steps to display the information--usually in the form of a page--on the
user's screen. The document is later parsed to extract the profile and
build additional pages to catalog and access the information. This method
for building a knowledge base with embedded content profiles and in a
document is useful but limited to processing the received information
only.
The above-mentioned IPX protocol and similar methods which determine the
information contents of packets and use them in the routing process can be
employed to control the transfer of packets. For example, U.S. Pat. No.
5,541,911 issued to Nilakantan et al. discloses a remote smart filtering
communication management system which uses the information contents data
to alleviate network traffic problems.
In particular, Nilakantan controls the traffic across a communication link
between a remote network and a central device by applying forwarding
rules. The resources monitor the characteristics of the forwarded data
packets received across the communication link to learn characteristics of
the users of the remote network. In response to the learned
characteristics, the resources generate link management messages and
forward these to the remote interface. The remote link management
resources in the remote interface are responsive to the link management
messages and tailor the forwarding rules to the user characteristics. The
packets can now be filtered or blocked based on user characteristics.
The use of selective blocking and filtering of packets by Nilakantan et al.
is applied to ultimately reduce network traffic. The invention is centered
around sending management messages which are then used to optimize packet
traffic across given links in the network. In other words, the problem
addressed by this invention is the high volume caused by the proliferation
of packets on the network.
Blocking and filtering of packets or their parts can be employed to speed
up the page rendering process on the user's screen. For example, blocking
functions may restrict packets from a list of providers or an entire block
of providers from ever being sent to the user. This feature allows one to
prevent undesired packets (e.g., packets containing adult material) from
being sent to the user and rendered on his or her screen. Filters can be
preset to chose packets based on the time they require for rendering or in
accordance with other user-specified standards (e.g., information
contents). Proper application of these two functions results in an
optimized and personalized page rendering procedure.
In the most common practical scenario, however, a network user sends a
direct request for an entire document from a terminal located on his or
her premises to the service provider. The provider verifies whether the
document is already stored in local memory and, if not, obtains this
document from the content provider. While the user's request is processed
the service provider usually passes on to the user a number of unsolicited
document portions, e.g., document portions from other service providers
such as advertisement servers. Thus, the subscriber receives, in addition
to the requested document(s), numerous other document portions of varying
degrees of interest or importance to him or her. When the page is rendered
on the user's screen these embedded document portions are displayed as a
part of the document.
Under these circumstances, what is needed is a system and method for
modifying or substituting undesired document portions rather than
performing blocking and filtering functions on the packet level. For
example, the service provider, the user or another party may wish to
exchange or modify a document being sent to the user. This situation may
occur when the service provider wishes to enclose vital information with
the document requested by the user. The use of the bandwidth allocated to
a less important document portion, hence a document portion swap, would be
highly appropriate for this purpose. In another situation, the user may
wish to block undesired document portions. For instance, when recording
television programming on the VCR recorder the user can selectively block
advertising material from being recorded. Analogously, when rendering a
web page the user may wish to omit specific document portions from being
rendered on the page.
At the present time the problems associated with this type of document
modification have not been addressed, much less solved. Consequently, what
is needed is a system and method which solves the problems associated with
document modification based on the information contents in a
communications network such as the Internet.
OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a
system and a method for modifying documents, and specifically for
replacing an original document portion with a substitute document portion
or inserting a substitute document portion in a communications network,
where the replacement decision is made based on the information content of
the original document portion.
It is another object of the invention to perform this exchange operation in
an efficient manner in a convenient part of the network and to allow the
network user to decide which document portions should be exchanged.
Yet another object of the invention is to perform the document modification
according to decisions derived from the service provider.
Still another object of the invention is the ensure that the system and
method of invention can be integrated in any communications network in
which content providers, service providers and users are connected via
communication links (e.g., the Internet).
These and other objects and advantages will become more apparent after
consideration of the ensuing description and the accompanying drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The objects and advantages of the invention are ensured by a system and
method applied to a communications network which transmits information in
the form of documents or rather document portions, e.g., the Internet. An
original document is modified to produce a modified document based on the
original document portions and, specifically, based on an identifier
portion and an information portion of each original document portion. A
substitute document portion is inserted in the place of each undesired
original document portion. The system according to the invention provides
for a number of content providers whose servers transmit documents or
document portions on the network. Service providers relay these document
portions to a given network user, who displays them on a user set, e.g., a
computer or a television set.
The system has a controller, typically a proxy server, for parsing the
original document to locate the identifier portion of each of the original
document portions, determining the information portion of each original
document portion to identify the undesired original document portion,
i.e., an original document portion which has an undesired content, and
issuing a swap order the undesired original document portion is found. For
instance, the undesired content may be an advertisement or a message not
relevant to the information which the user desires to view on his or her
user set.
A substitute document server receives the swap order and sends the
substitute document portion to the controller. A swapping device or
mechanism inserts the substitute document portion in place of the
undesired original document portion. At this point the substitute document
portion can be passed on to the user set and displayed. Depending on the
communications network and user preferences, the actual display set can be
a computer, a television set, or any other suitable end terminal with a
display screen.
In one version of the system according to the invention the controller is
located on the premises of the user, i.e., at the user's residence or at
his or her work place. Advantageously, in this embodiment the controller
can be integrated with the user set. It is also possible to integrate the
swapping mechanism with the controller. Of course, the controller can also
be located on the premises of the service provider and be integrated with
the swapping mechanism there. In this situation the role of the controller
and swapping mechanism can be most efficiently performed by the proxy
server.
The identifier portion of any original document portion can be as simple as
a network address. In general, this will be the network address of the
content provider who placed the document portion on the network.
(Address-based identification is one of the most common ways of
identifying document portions.) The content of the information portion can
be easily determined as desired or undesired from the provider's address.
For this purpose, the controller should have in its memory or some other
accessible storage resources a list of network addresses of content
providers. In another embodiment the identifier portion will have a brief
description or designation of what is contained in the information
portion. Such identifier portion will generally consist of any number of
signs and/or characters (usually abbreviations).
In a preferred embodiment the controller has a device or mechanism for
matching the dimensions of the substitute document portion with the
dimensions of the original document portion being replaced, i.e., the
undesired original document portion. This provision ensures that the
swapped information will be of appropriate size when rendered on the
user's screen, thus preserving the page layout which would have been
obtained without swapping.
A further embodiment adds to the system a user profile bank. The bank has
user profile information, e.g., statistical information, personal
preferences or any other information either compiled or gathered directly
from the user. The profile information is delivered to the controller such
that the swap order can be issued based on the user's preferences to
tailor the substitute document portions to the user's needs or other
relevant profile information.
The system of the invention can be used in any communications network
having the general architecture described. As mentioned above, the
Internet is well-suited for the system of the invention. The method of
swapping undesired original document portions with substitute document
portions is practiced in communications network exhibiting the same
architecture as required for the system.
A detailed description of the system and method of the invention are set
forth below in reference to the drawing figures.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the system of invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of a document portion.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the system of invention.
FIG. 4 is an example screen display on a user's set.
FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of an original document portion and
a substitute document portion.
FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing how a swap order is issued.
FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing how a swap order is issued when profile
bank information is available.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating typical placement of undesired original
document portions on a page.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the replacement of undesired original
document portions with specified substitute document portions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
An advantageous embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the block
diagram of FIG. 1. A document modification or swapping system 10
possessing the necessary architecture to practice the invention is built
around a communications network 12. The individual links and resources of
network 12 are not shown, but are generally known to include couplings,
high and low bandwidth links, filters, power sources, repeaters,
transformers, up- and down-converters, amplifiers and any number of other
equipment required to efficiently transmit information across large
physical distances. Network 12 may be a stand-alone network or one which
takes advantage of existing connections and resources, e.g., telephone
lines. In the preferred embodiment network 12 is simply the Internet.
Two content providers 14, 16 are connected to network 12 via communication
links 18 and 20 respectively. Any suitable medium of sufficient bandwidth
to transmit the required information to and from network 12 can be used as
links 18, 20. Content providers 14, 16 are servers equipped with the
necessary resources to transmit and receive information, specifically
requests or queries for the contents of their data banks (not shown).
Typically, content providers 14, 16 have information such as articles,
news briefs and updates, weather maps, books, summaries, files, software,
catalogues, documents, pictorials, video files, public records, commercial
literature and so forth.
Provider 14 is an independent server, while provider 16 is a part of a
larger resource 22 including an advertisement server 24 (hereafter "ad
server"). Although it is understood that either provider 14 or 16 may
place on network 12 various types of information, e.g., requested files,
non-requested information, undesired information and advertising material,
the distinction between ad server 24 and provider 16 is useful for better
illustrating the operation of system 10. Thus, in the present embodiment
it will be assumed that ad server 24 places, via provider 16, on network
12 unsolicited information, i.e., commercials and advertisements, while
provider 16 delivers requested and/or desired information.
System 10 also has dedicated ad servers 26 and 28 which deliver to network
12 via communication links 30 and 32 commercials and advertisements in the
broadest sense.
A substitute document server 34 is connected with network 12 by
communication link 36. Server 34 contains information which is not
requested or solicited but is desirable or useful. For example, server 34
may contain health-related information, warnings, general advisories and
many other types of information.
The different types of information placed on network 12 by providers 14,
16, ad servers 24, 26, 28 and substitute document server 34 are formatted
in documents or document portions such as document portion 40 shown in
FIG. 2. It is understood that the fundamental building blocks of document
portion 40 are information packets (not shown). Although the detailed
structure of document portion 40 will be adapted to network 12 each
document portion 40 has the same general make-up. A header or an
identifier portion 42 generally precedes an information portion 44 with
the actual information content. In some cases a footer 46 may be provided
to designate the end of document portion 40. Frequently, identifier
portion 42 is simply the network address of the server which placed
document portion 40 on network 12. Alternatively, identifier portion 42
contains a designation or identification of the information contained in
portion 44. Examples of different forms which identifier portion 42 can
assume when network 12 is the Internet are discussed below.
A service provider 50 is in communication with network 12 via communication
link 52. Typically, service provider 50 will have numerous lines 54
connecting directly to the subscribers or network users. In particular,
line 54A establishes a link between service provider 50 and a user set 56
on user premises 58. When network 12 is the Internet user set 56 is a
computer or a network unit. Other devices such as television sets or
display devices capable of receiving and/or sending document portion 40
can be used as well. A person of average skill in the art will be able to
ensure a suitable connection of user set 56 with service provider 50.
A controller 60 is switched between user set 56 and service provider 50.
Controller 60 is capable of reading identifier portion 42 of a document
portion 40 to determine the content of information portion 44. A swapping
device 62, preferably integrated with controller 60 as shown, is also
provided to receive a swap order which controller 60 issues when
information portion 42 of a packet 40 has an undesirable content.
The operation of system 10 is now described for the case in which network
12 is the Internet. As an example, FIG. 4 shows a screen display or a page
70 on user set 56. Page 70 is actually constructed from a number of
original document portions analogous in all respects to document portion
40. The below listing identifies how the page is rendered from original
document portions A, B, C, D and E. The formats used conform to the widely
accepted and well-known hyper-text mark-up language (HTML).
Example page
HTML for document portion A
Friday December 6 1:59 PM EST
______________________________________
</strong>
<|-- Text Start-->
<p>
<h2><a href=/headlines/961206/tech/summary.sub.-- 1.html>Technology
Summary</a></h2>
<hr>
<h2>Headlines</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href=/headlines/961206/tech/stories/free.sub.-- 1.html><b>Free
Market
Approach For Internet Urged</b></a>
<li><a href=/headlines/961206/tech/stories/copyright.sub.-- 3.html><b>Inte
rnet
Industry Officials Skeptical of Copyright Rules</b></a>
<li><a href=/headlines/961296/tech/stories/telecom.sub.-- 1.html><b>U.S.
To
Push Telecommunications Aims At WTO</b></a>
<li><a href=/headlines/961206/tech/stories/ntt.sub.-- 1.html><b>NTT To
Be
Restructured But Plan Draws Fire</b></a>
<li><a href=/headlines/961206/tech/stories/nttanalysis.sub.-- 1.html><b>Gl
obal
Competitors Have Little To Fear In NTT</b></a>
<li><a href=/headlines/961206/tech/stories/millennium.sub.-- 1.html><b>
Countries And Companies Slow To Defuse Millennium Bomb</b></a>
<li><a href=/headlines/961206/tech/stories/sales.sub.-- 1.html><b>U.S.
Consumer
PC Holiday Sales Off To Slow Start</b></a>
<li><a href=/headlines/961206/tech/stories/taxes.sub.-- 1.html><b>Internet
Said
Creating Confusing Tax Burden</b></a>
<li><a href=/headlines/961206/tech/stories/creative.sub.-- 1.html><b>Creat
ive
Partners U.S. Technology Firms</b></a>
</ul>
</body>
</html>
______________________________________
HTML for document portion B
______________________________________
<html>
<head>
<title>Technology Summary</title>
</head>
<body>
______________________________________
HTML for document portion C (Advertisement)
______________________________________
<|-- AdSpace -->
<|-- AdParam yhn000001424187 -->
<center><p><a
hred="http://www.yahoo.com/SpaceID=yhn00000142/AdID=4187/?http://
community.zdnet.com/register/register.cgi"><img width=460 height=55
src="http://www.yahoo.com/adv/zdi2/password5.gif" alt="›Too many
passwords to remember? Download Password Pro for free.!"
border=0></a>
<p></center>
<|--/AdSpace-->
______________________________________
HTML for document portion D (Links)
______________________________________
<center><strong>›
<a href=/headlines/>Index</a>.vertline.
<a href=/headlines/news/>News</a>.vertline.
<a href=/headlines/international/>World</a>.vertline.
<a href=/headlines/business/>Biz</a>.vertline.
<strong>Tech</strong>
<a href=/headlines/politics/>Politic</a>.vertline.
<a href=/headlines/sports/>Sport</a>.vertline.
<a href=http://sports.yahoo.com/>Scoreboard</a>.vertline.
<a href=/headlines/entertainment/>Entertain</a>.vertline.
<a href=/headlines/health/>Health</a>
!</strong>
</center>
<p>
______________________________________
HTML for document portion E (Processing User Input)
______________________________________
<center>
<form method=get action="http://search.main.yahoo.com/search/news">
<hr>
<input size=24 name=p> <input type=submit value="Search News">
<input type=hidden name=n value=10>
<a href="http://www.yahoo.com/docs/info/news.sub.-- search.sub.--
help.html">
<small>Help</small></a><br>
</form>
</center>
<|--StartLinks-->
<|--EndLinks-->
<hr>
<strong>
<|-- Yahoo Time Stamp: 849898740 -->
______________________________________
In the above example original document portions A, B, C, D and E correspond
to those indicated in FIG. 4. The information rendered and displayed on
page 70 is of the news type and it is understood that any other type of
information can be involved. Original document portion C contains an ad
which originated in one of ad servers 24, 26 or 28 and was not requested
by the user. Specifically, document portion C starts with identifier
portion 42 indicating that the information to follow is an ad.
______________________________________
<|-- AdSpace -->
______________________________________
In an alternative case, identifier portion 42 can legitimately contain:
______________________________________
<a href="http://www.yahoo.com/SpaceID=yhn00000142/
AdID=4187/?http://
community.zdnet.com/register/register.cgi">
______________________________________
Here, portion 42 identifies the network address of ad server (24, 26 or
28). It is clear that a number of commands is required to render document
portion C. These commands relate to proper spacing, location and other
parameters of document portion C. The format of these commands is commonly
known and widely used, e.g., in the layout of home pages for Internet
users. A person of average skill in the art will know how to interpret the
commands and how they act to render document portion C on user set 56.
During operation the network user will send requests from user set 56 to
service provider 50 for specific information, e.g.,
.vertline.Biz.vertline. in section D. Service provider 50 will, based on
this request, obtain the desired information from content provider 14 or
16 (depending on which provider has the information). Of course, service
provider 50 may have already downloaded the information in question. This
may be the case with frequently asked for data, minute-by-minute updates,
etc. In such situation provider 50 can comply with the request without
looking for the information on network 12. In any case, however, the
requested information originates at provider 14 or 16.
The document as finally rendered on the screen of user set 56 thus consist
of many document portion such as portion 40. As shown in FIG. 5, the
specific document portion requested by the user is referred to as original
document portion 100 for clarity. After original document portion 100 is
obtained from provider 14 or 16 (or retrieved from the memory resources
(not shown) of service provider 50) it is transmitted via line 54A to
controller 60. An identifier portion 102 of original document portion 100
is read by controller 60 to determine the content of information portion
104 of original document portion 100.
As explained above, an ad from ZDNet, which is considered undesirable
content, has identifier portion 102 describing the information to follow
as <|--AdSpace-->. Alternatively, identifier portion 102 may simply
contain the network address <a
href="http://www.yahoo.com/SpaceID=yhn00000142/AdID=4187/?http://
community.zdnet.com/register/register.cgi"> of ad server (24, 26 or 28,
depending on which server placed the ad on network 12).
Controller 60 has properly received from user set 56 the request for
.vertline.Biz.vertline.. While parsing the original document obtained as a
result of the request controller 60 detects identifier portion 102 of
original document portion 100 (in this case the same as document portion C
described above) which contains <|--AdSpace-->. These characters
distinctly signal that the information in original document portion 100 is
an undesired original document portion (in this case unsolicited).
Consequently, controller 60 will issue a swap order to swapping mechanism
62.
The swap order is formatted as any other information request (e.g., the one
for .vertline.Biz.vertline.) and is addressed to substitute packet server
34. FIG. 6 shows of flow diagram detailing the steps involved in
generating and issuing the swap order. It is understood that the software
for executing these steps can be written by any person skilled in the art.
The swap order travels via line 54A to service provider 50 who procures the
requested substitute document portion 110 (see FIG. 5) from substitute
document server 34. Substitute document portion 110 has dimensions
D(x,y,110) when rendered as show in FIG. 5. Preferably dimensions
D(x,y,110) are close or equal to dimensions D(x,y,100) of original
document portion 100. This provision will ensure that page 70 on the user
set 56 will have approximately the same size as if original document
portion 100 had been received and rendered on the screen of user set 56.
In many cases this request can be easily satisfied since the size and
width of any document portion when rendered is generally provided as a
rendering hint and can be read directly from the HTML code. In the above
example original document portion C includes the hint: <img width=460
height=55. In other cases controller can either fetch the content of
original document portion 100 to determine the rendered size.
Alternatively, when identifier portion 102 contains the address <a
href="http://www.yahoo.com/SpaceID=yhn00000142/AdID=4187/?http://community
.zdnet.com/register/register.cgi"> controller 60 will be alerted that the
information in original document portion 100 is undesired. That is because
controller 60 keeps a list of addresses of content providers or ad servers
or both. By comparing the address of portion 102 with the addresses of
providers 14, 16 controller can ascertain that information portion 104 is
undesirable, since the address of zdnet (one of ad servers 24, 26 or 28)
is not on the list. If controller 60 is working with a list of ad servers
24, 26 or 28 it will determine that information portion 104 is undesirable
when identifier portion 102 contains the address of one of ad servers 24,
26 or 28. Clearly, when using the address-based method of identifying
undesirable information the address lists should be updated frequently.
At this point, controller 60 will issue a swap order, as described above,
to swapping mechanism 62. The swap order will be used, as explained above,
to procure substitute document portion 110 from substitute document server
34. Again, it is preferable that dimensions D(x,y,110) of substitute
document portion 110 be approximately equal to dimensions D(x,y,100) of
original document portion 100.
Another embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 3. As in the first
embodiment, a document modification system 200 consists of content
providers 14, 16, ad servers 24, 26, 28 connected to network 12 by
communication links 18, 20, 30 and 32. Substitute document server 34 is
connected to network 12 by link 36.
A service provider 202 with lines 204 going out to subscribers is connected
to network 12 via link 206. A controller 208, most conveniently a proxy
server, is connected directly to a number of lines 204 on which the
document portion swapping or insertion function is desired. Controller 208
may be integrated in the circuitry of service provider 202 or be a
stand-alone unit. A swapping mechanism 210 is connected to controller 208
and, in a particularly convenient embodiment, can be integrated with the
circuitry of controller 208 and service provider 202. The choice of how
service provider 202, controller 208 and swapping mechanism 210 are
arranged and interconnected can be determined by the circuit designer. In
fact, if service provider 202 has all the necessary hardware and circuitry
then the functions of controller 208 and/or swapping mechanism 210 may all
be performed by service provider 202 given the appropriate software.
A particular line 204A shows the path from service provider 202 to user set
212 on user premises 214. In this embodiment no additional equipment is
required of the user. This means that user set 212 is simple to install
and may, for example, be a television set configured for WebTV.
A profile bank 216 is also connected via line 218 to service provider 202.
Bank 216 typically contains user information such as user preferences,
past activity data or even medical records. The connection with bank 216
is such that service provider 202 may request and obtain user profile
information from bank 216.
The operation of this embodiment is analogous to that of the first
embodiment. The difference is that the functions of parsing original
document and specifically original document portions 100 and deciding
whether to issue a swap order for substitute document portion 110 are
performed by service provider 202. In addition, when issuing the swap
order, swapping mechanism 210 may take into account the profile of the
user obtained from bank 216.
For example, data bank 216 may contain the medical records indicating that
the user is a diabetic and should be reminded to monitor their blood
glucose level. In this situation, when original document portion 100 is
undesired, swapping mechanism 210 will issue a | | |
