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FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an information component management system. Specifically, the system of the present invention enables documents, images and other types of information to be packaged within an active information component object,
which can then be stored, retrieved and manipulated according to content rather than according to form.
Both the amount and format of available information is increasing at a geometric rate. Individuals today face a plethora of choices, both of the type of information which can be obtained, and the method by which the information is obtained. For
example, in addition to the traditional print media such as newspapers and magazines, a good deal of news information is available electronically, via the World Wide Web (WWW), through electronic computer mail, by dedicated electronic news services,
through a facsimile machine or even on television. All of this information can be obtained relatively easily, yet finding particularly useful information is increasingly difficult if not impossible.
The many different information formats are themselves a source of increasing complexity for information management. Such management includes storing, searching and retrieving available information to find that small fraction which is useful to
the user. For example, a particular news item might be available in a paper document, as a picture, from a video stream such as television broadcast, through a voice medium such as radio, or electronically on the World Wide Web. Currently available
document management systems can only manage one or two of these formats, often requiring information to be translated from the original source format into a format available to the document management system. In addition, as its name implies, a
"document" management system is still tied to the underlying characteristics of a "document".
Documents can be defined as a collection of ideas and information, which are organized within a certain structure. The ideas and information may be logically linked according to various relationships, but as a whole should follow a common theme. The collection itself is expressed as a combination of text and graphic items. There are three main types of information in a document: ideas, data and structure. Ideas can be expressed with words or graphics. Data can be in the form of numbers,
symbols, graphics or even sounds. The final element, structure, is an important element of a document, yet it is often overlooked as a separate entity. The structure of a document is the way in which the data and ideas are organized within the
document, thereby providing additional significance to these data and ideas.
Current document management systems typically fall into one of two categories. The first category is a structured management system. This system was originally designed to enable searches for information according to specific keywords within
defined database fields. Unfortunately, this underlying system design has many disadvantages. For example, the types of performable searches are limited by the structure of the database itself. Furthermore, information must be extracted from the
document and entered into the database manually, which is time consuming, expensive and prone to human error. Thus, structured management systems have significant drawbacks for document management.
The alternative category, non-structured retrieval systems, solves certain problems but also creates new difficulties. These systems enable automatic indexing of information, without the need for human intervention. However, in non-structured
retrieval systems, only the free text of the document is automatically indexed. Therefore, only free text from the document can be searched. Although free text is an important component of a document, such a system loses the other types of available
information. Furthermore, the context of ideas or concepts within a document is largely lost by the automatic indexing procedure, leaving the user with a collection of disconnected textual segments or documents which are divorced from the general theme
expressed by the entire document. Thus, the user must often read an entire document or a collection of search results in order to find the desired information.
Therefore, there is an unmet need for, and it would be highly useful to have, an information component retrieval system which stores, manages and retrieves concepts and ideas rather than static documents or document portions.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a management system for managing information, comprising: (a) an IC Publisher for capturing the information from an original information source, storing the information so that the information
becomes stored original information, converting said stored original information into a metafile and for transmitting said metafile; (b) an IC Broker for receiving said metafile, for preparing an information component from said metafile, and for storing
said information component in a database, said information component being characterized by being a software object, said software object including: (i) a pointer to a storage location of said stored original information; (ii) at least one method for
manipulating said stored original information; and (iii) at least one property of said stored original information; and (c) an IC Server for retrieving and displaying said information component.
Preferably, the original information source is selected from the group consisting of print media and electronic media. More preferably, the electronic medium is selected from the group consisting of electronic mail, World Wide Web page, video
stream, sound stream and textual information. Preferably, the IC Publisher captures said information by interacting with a software driver, said driver being able to hold said information in an electronic format accessible to said IC Publisher.
According to preferred embodiments of the present invention the IC Publisher further comprises: (a) an IC Capture for capturing the information from an original information source, said original information being captured through an invocation of
a software driver for interacting with a software system, said software system being able to access said original information from said original information source; (b) an IC Transformer for storing said original information so that said original
information becomes stored original information in a storage location, and converting said stored original information into a metafile; and (c) an IC Transmitter for publishing said metafile. Preferably, the original information source is selected from
the group consisting of word processing document, a PDF file, a video stream, an audio stream and a Web page. More preferably, the software system is selected from the group consisting of word processor, facsimile machine software, Web browser and
Adobe.TM. Acrobat.TM.. Most preferably, the software system is said word processor and said software driver is a printer driver. Preferably, the metafile includes a raster image of said original information, a pointer to said storage location of said
original information, a text of said original information and at least a portion of coordinates of said text within said original information. More preferably, the metafile is an archive file. Also more preferably, the IC Transformer converts said
stored original information according to a process selected from the group consisting of optical character recognition and PDF conversion. Preferably, the IC Transmitter publishes said metafile according to a process selected from the group consisting
of transmittal to an object request broker and transmittal to an HTTP daemon.
According to other preferred embodiments of the present invention, the information component is a CORBA object. Alternatively, the information component is selected from the group consisting of a COM object, a Java Bean component having data
stored according to the JAR format and a flat file. Preferably, the information component belongs to an information class, said information class belonging to a hierarchy of related classes, such that said information class has a pool of attributes
according a location in said hierarchy. More preferably, the hierarchy includes said information class and at least one information sub-class, such that said pool of attributes of said information class is inherited by said at least one information
sub-class. Also more preferably, the information class is selected from the group consisting of newspaper class and video stream class. Most preferably, the newspaper class includes at least one information subclass selected from the group consisting
of article, page and picture. Also most preferably, the video stream class includes at least one information subclass selected from the group consisting of video clip and video frame.
According to still other preferred embodiments of the present invention, the IC Broker analyzes a content of said information component and classifies said information component in said information class according to said content. Preferably,
the content includes textual data, image data and visual attributes. More preferably, the visual attributes are selected from the group consisting of font type, font style and location of said textual information. Preferably, the IC Broker further
comprises: (a) a content analyzer for obtaining the information from the metafile; (b) a component identifier for identifying at least one element of the information, said at least one element being selected from the group consisting of text and picture;
(c) a component classifier for classifying said at least one element according to a knowledge base; and (d) a component generator for generating the information component as a software object, said software object including: (i) a pointer to a storage
location of the information; (ii) at least one method for manipulating the information; and (iii) at least one property of the information. More preferably, the software object is selected from the group consisting of Java Bean object and COM object.
Most preferably, the at least one property is selected from the group consisting of object mapping structure, profile, object image, and access control data. Preferably, the object mapping structure includes a structure of said software object, a text
of said software object and a picture of said software object, said structure relating said text to said picture such that a visual image of the information is reproducible. Also preferably, the object image is a visual image of the information. Also
preferably, the access control data determines accessibility to said software object. More preferably, the system further includes an IC Manager for storing and retrieving said information component. Most preferably, the IC Manager includes a plurality
of CORBA-compliant software objects. Also most preferably, the software objects are Cartridges.
According to yet other preferred embodiments of the present invention, the IC Server communicates with said IC Broker through a CORBA-compliant object request broker.
According to other preferred embodiments of the present invention, the IC Server displays said retrieved information in a visual display. Preferably, the IC Server displays said retrieved information by printing onto paper. Also preferably, the
system further comprises a client Web browser for requesting stored information and said IC Server further comprises: (a) a database for storing said stored information; and (b) an image processor for accessing said stored information from said database
and transforming said stored information into a Searchable Image Format (SIF) file, said SIF file being accessible by said client Web browser, such that said stored information is displayable by said client Web browser. More preferably, the SIF file
includes: (a) a raster image of the stored information; (b) a text of the stored information; and (c) a relationship between said text and said raster image, such that a location of said text within said raster image is specified. Also more preferably,
the system further comprises a polygon sent from the client Web browser to the IC Server, said polygon specifying a portion of the stored information to be sent to the client Web browser, such that said SIF file includes a raster image of said portion of
the stored information and such that substantially only said portion of the stored information is displayed by the client Web browser. Most preferably, the IC Server further includes an IC View Server for enabling a display of an image from the stored
information on the client Web browser. Also most preferably, the IC Server further includes an IC Print Server for enabling printing of the stored information. Most preferably, the image processor, said IC View Server and said IC Print Server all
include at least one Cartridge.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for managing information, comprising the steps of: (a) capturing the information in an electronic format; (b) converting said captured information into an
information component, said information component featuring: (i) a pointer to a storage location of said captured information; (ii) at least one method for manipulating said captured information; and (iii) at least one property of said captured
information; (c) storing said information component; and (d) displaying said information component such that said captured information appears in substantially the original format.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a information component being characterized by being a software object, said software object including: (a) a pointer to a storage location of said stored original
information; (b) at least one method for manipulating said stored original information; and (c) at least one property of said stored original information. Preferably, the software object belongs to an information class, said information class belonging
to a hierarchy of related classes, such that said information class has a pool of attributes according to a location in said hierarchy. More preferably, the hierarchy includes said information class and at least one information sub-class, such that said
pool of attributes of said information class is inherited by said at least one information sub-class. Most preferably, the information class is selected from the group consisting of newspaper class and video stream class. Also most preferably, the
newspaper class includes at least one information subclass selected from the group consisting of article, page and picture. Also most preferably, the video stream class includes at least one information subclass selected from the group consisting of
video clip and video frame.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a IC Publisher for publishing information, comprising: (a) an IC Capture for capturing the information from an original information source, said original
information being captured through an invocation of a software driver for interacting with a software system, said software system being able to access said original information from said original information source; (b) an IC Transformer for storing
said original information so that said original information becomes stored original information in a storage location, and converting said stored original information into a metafile; and (c) an IC Transmitter for publishing said metafile. Preferably,
the original information source is selected from the group consisting of word processing document, a PDF file, a video stream, an audio stream and a Web page. More preferably, the software system is selected from the group consisting of word processor,
facsimile machine software, Web browser and Adobe.TM. Acrobat.TM.. Most preferably, the software system is said word processor and said software driver is a printer driver. Also more preferably, the metafile includes a raster image of said original
information, a pointer to said storage location of said original information, a text of said original information and at least a portion of coordinates of said text within said original information. Most preferably, the metafile is an archive file.
Also most preferably, the IC Transformer converts said stored original information according to a process selected from the group consisting of optical character recognition and PDF conversion. Preferably, the IC Transmitter publishes said metafile
according to a process selected from the group consisting of transmittal to an object request broker and transmittal to an HTTP daemon.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an IC Broker for preparing an information component from a metafile containing information, said IC Broker comprising: (a) a content analyzer for obtaining the
information from the metafile; (b) a component identifier for identifying at least one element of the information, said at least one element being selected from the group consisting of text and picture; (c) a component classifier for classifying said at
least one element according to a knowledge base; and (d) a component generator for generating the information component as a software object, said software object including: (i) a pointer to a storage location of the information; (ii) at least one method
for manipulating the information; and (iii) at least one property of the information. Preferably, the software object is selected from the group consisting of Java Bean object and COM object. More preferably, the at least one property is selected from
the group consisting of object mapping structure, profile, object image, and access control data. Most preferably, the object mapping structure includes a structure of said software object, a text of said software object and a picture of said software
object, said structure relating said text to said picture such that a visual image of the information is reproducible. Also most preferably, the object image is a visual image of the information. Also most preferably, the access control data determines
access to said software object. Preferably, the IC Broker further includes an IC Manager for storing and retrieving said information component. More preferably, the IC Manager includes a plurality of CORBA-compliant software objects. Most preferably,
the software objects are Cartridges.
According to still another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an IC Server for serving stored information to a client Web browser, said IC Server comprising: (a) a database for storing the stored information; and (b) an image
processor for accessing the stored information from said database and transforming the stored information into a Searchable Image Format (SIF) file, said SIF file being accessible by the client Web browser, such that the stored information is displayable
by the client Web browser.
Hereinafter, the term "computing platform" refers to a particular computer hardware system or to a particular software operating system. Examples of such hardware systems include, but are not limited to, personal computers (PC), Mackintosh.TM.
computers, mainframes, minicomputers and workstations. Examples of such software operating systems include, but are not limited to, UNIX, VMS, Linux, MacOS.TM., DOS, one of the Windows.TM. operating systems by Microsoft Inc. (Seattle, Wash., USA),
including Windows NT.TM., Windows 3.x.TM. (in which "x" is a version number, such as "Windows 3.1.TM.") and Windows95.TM.. Hereinafter, the term "software object" includes any software application capable of substantially independent execution by an
operating system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a diagram of an information class;
FIG. 2 shows a document information class;
FIG. 3 is a diagram of the video clip information class;
FIG. 4 is a diagram of the general architecture of the system of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a diagram of a preferred embodiment of the IC Publisher of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a diagram of a preferred embodiment of the IC Broker of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a diagram of the data flow in the system of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a diagram of a preferred embodiment of the IC Server of the present invention; and
FIG. 9 is a general overview of one application of the system of the present invention.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The information component management system of the present invention enables documents, images and other types of information to be packaged within an active information component object, which can then be stored, retrieved and manipulated
according to content rather than according to form. The information component includes concepts or ideas, data and structure as separate but related entities. Information components are linked to each other according to a particular relationship, which
may be either parallel or hierarchical.
For example, an image of a face of a person is an information component which may in turn be a portion of a larger object, such as a group photo, which may in turn be a portion of an article. The image of the face, the group photo and the
article are all individual information components which are linked according to a hierarchical structure. Each information component inherits the features of all associated information components which are higher in the hierarchical structure, and in
turn contributes to the pool of features characterizing associated information components which are lower in the hierarchical structure. Thus, information components have both content related to the actual stored information, and content related to the
features of associated, higher level components.
The actual stored information from an information component is displayed in substantially the same format as the original source format, so as to maintain the original appearance as much as possible. The displayed information maintains
substantially the same fonts, graphics and structure, so that a newspaper page is displayed as a substantially exact reproduction of the page as it originally appeared in newsprint, for example. Thus, the system of the present invention has a clear
advantage over prior art document management systems, which usually display retrieved information only as pure ASCII text. Even if graphic images are also displayed, the structure of the entire document, and the visual relationship between the text and
the images, is not maintained by these prior art systems.
The information component management system of the present invention is able to search for, and retrieve, information based upon all characteristics of the information component, including graphic images, text and structural relationships.
Results are presented as intuitive, visually explicit objects which are easy to examine, manipulate and navigate through. Furthermore, the search results are presented according to the ranked relevance to the desired search strategy, in which the rank
is determined with both the full content and the complete characteristics of the information component.
Thus, the system of the present invention includes two basic principles: object oriented management and visual information retrieval. Both principles will be explained in greater detail below, in the Description of the Preferred Embodiments.
Briefly, the information components are managed as objects which belong to an information class. Different information classes are linked according to the logical relationship between the components in each class. Overall, the classes are placed within
a hierarchical structure, in which each child class inherits the properties of the parent class. Each information class defines the properties and operations of a set of information component.
As noted previously, each information component is a representation of information, combining structured and non-structured data. As an object, the information component also features methods for accessing and manipulating the information,
including the data interface and any data operations. Because the methods of the information component are exposed to the general computational environment, the component either can be displayed, or can display itself, on any type of computing platform
or operating system. Thus, the information component is both compatible across different computing platforms and has an open, easily accessible interface.
In order to prepare such an information component, several procedures must be performed. First, the information must be identified. Next, the information must be classified and the actual information component must be created. The relationship
between the new information component and other information component(s) must be identified. Finally, the behavior of the completed information component is determined according to the functionality of the attributes or features which accrue to that
component after classification and identification of relationships.
Once prepared, the information component can be searched and retrieved through visual information search and retrieval. Briefly, the search can be performed according to keyword, visual example and graphic attributes. Visual examples include
images or graphic objects which are compared to graphic information stored in the database, just as a keyword search involves the comparison of keywords to text stored in the database. Graphic attributes include font size, font attribute and relative
positioning of information within a document. These attributes can also be used as search parameters. Thus, the search is not limited to a simple keyword comparison of stored textual information.
Information which is retrieved as a result of the search is then presented in a substantially similar or even identical format as the original source format. Furthermore, the relevance ranking of the retrieved information is determined both by
the number and density of required keywords which appear in the information component, if any, but also is preferably calculated according to the desired visual attributes and relationships to other information components. Even more preferably, as
described in more detail below, the system of the present invention includes a mechanism for learning the preferences and profile of an individual user, which can then also be used to calculate the relevance ranking of the retrieved information.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The present invention is of an information component management system, in which information is packaged as an information component, including textual data, images and structure. Information components are related to each other according to a
hierarchical organization, in which characteristics of components which are higher in the hierarchy accrue to those components which are lower in the hierarchy. The information components can be searched and retrieved according to all attributes of the
actual information, as well as the characteristics of the component and relationships between components. Thus, the information component management system of the present invention is not limited to simple storage, searches and retrieval of textual data
only, but instead preserves all aspects of the original source of information.
The principles and operation of the information component system according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawings and the accompanying description. It should be noted that the following description will
make reference to the Java computer programming language and to related software architecture, it being understood that this is for the sake of clarity only and is not meant to be limiting in any way.
The detailed description of the system of the present invention will be divided into six sections. The first section will describe various background art technologies which are the preferred support technologies for the system of the present
invention. These technologies are described as "background art" because they are not fulfilling the same functions as the system of the present invention, but instead are merely enabling these functions. The next section will provide a description of
information component architecture according to preferred embodiments of the present invention. The third section will provide a brief overall view of the entire system according to the present invention. The final four sections will describe preferred
embodiments of the four main elements of the management system of the present invention: information component publisher, information component broker, information component server and information component interface.
Section 1: Background Art Technologies
The background art technologies which described in this section are well known in the art. The description provided herein is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to teach those aspects of the background art technologies which are required
to support the management system of the present invention. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art could easily use these background technologies in combination with the teachings of the present invention, without requiring undue experimentation.
The preferred background art technologies which are described herein include CORBA, a particular proprietary embodiment of CORBA, and the Java Bean component architecture.
Preferably, both the information components of the present invention and the management system for these components are compliant with the CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) standard, which is a standard for communication between
distributed objects established by OMG (Object Management Group). OMG is a consortium of over 700 different software developers. Thus, standards developed by OMG are industry-wide and software applications compliant with these standards should be able
to successfully interact with other compliant applications, as described below.
CORBA is a standard which provides a standard method for execution of program modules in a distributed environment, regardless of the computer programming language in which the modules are written, or the computing platform on which they are
executed. CORBA enables complex systems to built, integrating many different types of computing platforms within an entire business, for example.
In order to permit different software applications to communicate, regardless of programming language, hardware or operating system, all such applications communicate through a CORBA-compliant ORB (Object Request Broker). Each application is an
"object" with a particular interface through which communication is enabled. ORB acts as the "middle-man", passing information and requests for service to each object as necessary. Thus, one software application does not need to understand or know the
interface used by another object, since all communication occurs through ORB.
Furthermore, the use of an ORB permits true distributed computing, since different objects do not need to be operated by the same computer or even reside on the same network. The ORB directs any communication to the appropriate server which
contains the object, which might be located on the same host, or a different host, as the client object. The ORB then redirects the results back to the client object. Thus, CORBA can also be described as an "object bus" because it is a communications
interface through which objects are located and accessed.
In addition, CORBA provides IIOP (Internet Inter-ORB Protocol), which is the CORBA message protocol for communication on the Internet. IIOP links GIOP (CORBA's General Inter-ORB Protocol) to TCP/IP, the general communication protocol of the
Internet. GIOP in turn specifies how one ORB communicates with another ORB. These two types of protocols were implemented to enable different proprietary ORB implementations to communicate over the Internet. Therefore, one type of proprietary ORB can
communicate with another, different type of proprietary ORB on a different host computer according to a combination of IIOP and GIOP protocols. Practically speaking, if IIOP is built into a Web browser such as Netscape.TM. Navigator.TM., a Java applet
is downloaded into the Web browser when the user accesses a Web page with a CORBA object. The Java applet invokes the ORB to first pass data to the object, then to execute the object and finally retrieve the results. Thus, in combination all of these
protocols define a set of expected behaviors which all components of CORBA--objects and ORB--must fulfill.
Further information on both CORBA and IIOP can be obtained from the "TechWeb Technology Encyclopedia" (http://www.tech-web. com/encyclopedia as of Sep. 10, 1997).
One proprietary version of the CORBA technology for enabling distributed web-based applications is called the Web Request Broker (WRB), developed by Oracle Corp. (Redwood Shores, Calif., USA). WRB is described in a white paper (M. Anand et al.,
"The Web Request Broker: a Framework for Distributed Web-based Applications", http.//www.olab.com/www6.sub.-- 1/paper.html as of Sep. 10, 1997). Briefly, the WRB architecture includes the dispatcher, application and system cartridges, and a CORBA
compliant ORB. The dispatcher and cartridges use the ORB for communication between components, so that these components can be distributed on separate remote machines. The dispatcher routes requests from the HTTP daemon to the appropriate cartridge.
The cartridges are software components which perform a specific function and are thus the "objects" described previously.
Cartridges are used within the system of the present invention as an exemplary support for a number of different functions, as described in subsequent sections. Cartridges have a name, composed of the IP address of the server where the cartridge
is located, and the virtual path to the location of the cartridge on that server. Cartridges also have a standard interface, which includes a number of methods. Examples of such methods include the authenticate routine, which determines whether the
client is entitled to requested services and the exec routine, which receives the particular service request if the authentication routine is successfully performed. Thus, the cartridge technology provides a fully developed basis for the creation of
particular software functionality.
One particular advantage of employing the proprietary cartridge technology for software development is that the system architecture provides a framework for interaction between different objects over the Internet by using HTTP Web servers and
existing Web browsers. The CORBA protocols only define a standard, but do not provide any specific implementation. Thus, the proprietary cartridge technology enables one of ordinary skill in the art to develop a software application which can
communicate with other applications over the World Wide Web.
Another type of enabling background art technology is "Java Bean". Java Bean is a component software architecture which operates in the Java programming environment. Java, of course, is an interpreter-driven, object-oriented computer
programming language which is substantially platform-independent. Software packages which are written in Java can be operated by any operating system, or platform, which supports the Java interpreter. Similarly, a Java Bean component can run remotely
and independently as a discrete software application object in a distributed computing environment using either the Remote Method Invocation protocol of Sun Computers Inc., or else by using CORBA. As described below, information components are
preferably packaged and then distributed as independent Java Bean components.
The Java Bean component software architecture is a set of API's (Application Programming Interfaces) and rules which enable software developers to define software components to be dynamically combined to create a software application. The Java
Bean component model has two major elements: components and containers.
Components range in size and capability from small GUI (graphic user interface) widgets such as a button, to an applet-sized functionality such as a tabular viewer, and even to a full-sized application such as an HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language)
viewer or the information component of the present invention. Components can have a visual aspect, such as a button, can actually be visual information or can be non-visual, such as a data-based monitoring component.
Containers hold an assembly of related components. Containers provide the context for components to be arranged and interact with each other. Containers are occasionally referred to as "forms", "pages", "frames" or "shells". Containers can
also be components, so that a container can be used as a component inside another container.
The Java Bean component model provides the following major types of services: component interface exposure and discovery; component properties; event handling; persistence; application builder support and component packaging. Component interface
exposure and discovery allows components to expose their interface so that they can be driven dynamically by calls and event notifications from other components or application scripts. Component properties are the public attributes of a component which
either directly reflect or effect the current state of that component. For example, properties could include the "foreground color" of a video clip, its zoom factor or its access rights. The state of these properties can be interrogated or modified
through standard mechanisms.
Event handling is the mechanism for components to "raise" or "broadcast" events and have those events delivered to the appropriate component or components which need to be notified. Typically, notified components then perform a particular
function in response. For example, if he user interface shows a document image clip on the monitor screen, the parent Information Object event will communicate with the Object Server to transmit the full page of the clip, and will send a viewing command
to the full-page viewer component. Thus, event handling allows information components to interact with each other.
Persistence is the mechanism for storing the state of a component in a non-volatile location. The component state is stored in the context of the container and in relation to other components. For example, if the user wants to save the viewing
zoom factor for all of the following documents, the persistence mechanism would support this.
Application builder support interfaces enable components to expose their properties and behaviors to application builder development tools. Using these interfaces, the tools can determine the properties and behaviors, or events and methods, of
arbitrary components. The tools can provide mechanisms such as tool palettes, inspectors and editors, which the application developer uses to assemble an application. Through these mechanisms, the application developer can modify the state and
appearance of components as well as establish relationships between components.
This mechanism enables sophisticated information applications such as Hypertext links to be created. For example, using an appropriate multimedia tool, the user can define a button which appears on the viewed document, and then links the
document to a different document. The application developer will use property editors to specify the appearance, including size, color and label, of the button, the link type and the link target.
Since Java Bean components can be distributed and independently deployed over a network, there is a need to provide a facility to physically "package" the resources which are included in an information component so that they are accessible to the
other Java Bean components. Preferably, such packaging is performed with the JAR (Java Archive) file format. The JAR file format enables the class file of the information component and other information component resources such as images, OMS (object
mapping structure), sounds, and link information, to be packaged as a single physical entity for distribution.
Section 2: Information Component Architecture
As noted previously, each information component has a number of different elements and properties. Each information component belongs to an information class. The information class defines the properties and operations of a group of information
components. Information classes can describe a newspaper, a general document or a video clip, for example.
Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is an exemplary illustration of an information class for a newspaper page. An information class 10 defines the properties and operations of components which contain newspaper pages. These properties include
textual information, structural information and any links to other components. The operations, or methods, include retrieving the textual information, for example. Thus, the operations are used to store, retrieve or modify information contained in the
properties.
Information class 10 has a sub-class 12 for an individual newspaper article. Sub-class 12 inherits the properties of the parent class, information class 10. In addition, sub-class 12 may have additional properties and methods, such as the
coordinates of the location of the article within the newspaper page, or an operation for retrieving the name of the author of the article. Other information classes 14 and 16 are also shown for columns and pictures respectively. For example,
information class 16 might have information about pictures which are associated with the article. Information class 14 might contain information about the structure of the column which contains the article. In any case, these additional information
classes 14 and 16 are related to information sub-class 12 according to a defined set of relationships.
FIG. 2 shows an exemplary general document information class. A document information class 18 has two sub-classes, a picture sub-class 22 and a page sub-class 20. Page sub-class 20, in turn, has a paragraph sub-class 24, while picture sub-class
22 has a picture clip sub-class 26, which might contain the actual image. Additional sub-classes might also be possible. Thus, substantially any document could be broken down into information components of class 18, and sub-classes 20, 22, 24 and 26.
FIG. 3 shows an exemplary video clip information class, which contains information such as data and structure for a segment of recorded video. A video stream information class 28 is the general, overall class for the hierarchy. A video clip
information sub-class 30 is lower down, followed by a frame sub-class 32. Frame sub-class 32 might contain only information regarding a single frame of the video. Thus, even though a video may be considered as a sequential collection of images which
give the illusion of movement, it too can be broken down into smaller elements which are then stored in the above-mentioned information classes and sub-classes.
Section 3: General System Architecture
This section provides an overview of the general architecture of the management system of the present invention, as well as of the interactions between the four main elements of this system. The specific functions of each element will also be
described in successive sections below.
FIG. 4 shows the general architecture of the system of the present invention. A general system architecture 34 includes IC (Information Component) Publisher 36, IC Server 38, IC Broker 40 and IC Interface 42. Although each element will be
described in further detail below, briefly IC Publisher 36 is responsible for the acquisition and conversion of information content, and for the transmission of the converted information content to IC Server 38. IC Server 38 then stores the actual or
"original" information such as documents, multimedia objects and other types of information entities. IC Broker 40 performs two tasks: creating new, lower level information components from a main, higher level information component; and then storing
these information components in a database. IC Interface 42 enables a variety of client applications, described below, to access these stored information components. Thus, the general system of the present invention collects the information from a
variety of sources, packages the information into information components, and then stores the components for later retrieval by a client application.
Section 4: Information Component Publisher
This section describes the IC (information component) Publisher, which is shown within the larger context of the entire system in FIG. 4, and is also shown in more detail in FIG. 5.
IC Publisher 36 has three parts: IC Capture 44, IC Transformer 46 and IC Transmitter 48. IC Capture 44 preferably operates as memory resident software and captures the desired information content from a variety of software systems including, but
not limited to, a document editor 50 such as the Word product of Microsoft; a media application 52 such as PDF files from Adobe.TM. Acrobat.TM.; facsimile machine software 54 for operating a facsimile machine; and a Web browser software 56 such as
Netscape.TM. Navigator.TM.. Additional software systems from which information content can be captured include imaging software and spreadsheet software. These software systems are intended as illustrative examples only, since substantially any
software system which handles, stores, retrieves or manipulates information could have that information captured by IC Capture 44.
IC Capture 44 invokes the appropriate software drivers for handling different information formats from the above software systems. As an example, information could be captured from a document stored in the format of Microsoft.TM. Word.TM. word
processing software. A number of possible methods could be used to capture the information contained within the document, two illustrative examples of which are given here, it being understood that these are for discussion purposes only and are not
meant to be limiting.
In the first exemplary implementation, IC Capture 44 interacts with Microsoft.TM. Word.TM. and instructs Microsoft.TM. Word.TM. to place the document on the "clipboard". The "clipboard" is a feature of a number of different computer
operating systems, in particular those operating systems of Microsoft Inc. (Seattle, Wash., US | | |
