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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Currently, Internet-based data can be widely scattered, resulting in large
collections of Universal Record Locators (URLs) in browser bookmark lists.
To assemble data stored at different URLs, the user of a Web browser must
either: 1) display each URL's Web data in a separate window, requested
individually; 2) display each URL's Web data in sequence in the same
window; or 3) rely on the designers of specific Web pages to include at a
single URL all the data the user wishes to assemble. Each of these methods
is cumbersome, and forces the user to assemble the scattered data with
manual operations. At present there is no method for automatically
extracting information from numerous web pages and incorporating the
extracted information in a personal web page.
Definitions
The term `script`, as used here, refers to a sequence of statements in a
programming language or procedural language, statements which, when
carried out, accomplish some task or function in some system. A script may
be created by a human being or a computer program; in the current context
such a script is executed (i.e., its statements are carried out in their
programmed order) within one or more interconnected computer systems.
The term `filter script`, as used here, refers to a script designed to
select components of its inputs to be processed and produced as its
outputs.
The term `search engine`, as used here, refers to any Website which
provides for its users one or more text indices enabling the users to
locate occurrences of specific text appearing in documents accessible on
the World Wide Web.
The term `Web spider`, as used here, refers to the automated software
employed by the Web search engine sites to examine each Website on the
World Wide Web and generate search-engine text indices for all significant
terms made available for access by those Websites.
Discussion of Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,506 (Kuzma)
The Kuzma patent describes the establishment and updating of a directory,
stored on one server computer system, using input from users on other
client systems. The flow of the information in the Kuzma invention is from
the clients to the server, for inclusion in the server's directory. It
does not control raw data insertion to the user's browsed pages, based on
the user's own definitions of filter scripts to obtain the data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,442 (Crater et al.)
The Crater patent does not cover a system where the user can dynamically
define a process for gathering any data from any URL.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,951 (Lombardi)
The Lombardi patent does not grant the user any ability to define desired
information.
SUMMARY
The invention provides a method and apparatus for rapid and accurate
assembly and use of dynamic data from widely-scattered Web pages, on a
single template Web page of the user's design. It solves the problem of
the prior art and provides a method and apparatus for automatically
extracting information from numerous web pages and incorporating the
extracted information in a personal web page.
The invention may be embodied in the form of a computer, a method of
operation of a computer, or a computer program product for generating a
filter script to locate and retrieve variable data from one or more
Internet sites. The invention uses memory in a computer for storing a
document such as a personal web page template. A computer browser may hold
a program that executes features of the invention. The browser locates key
pages on the Internet. Portions of the pages are highlighted. The
highlighting provides filter scripts. When the browser is operated in
accordance with the invention, it locates the previously identified web
pages and extracts data from the previously highlighted portions. The
highlighted portions are then automatically inserted into the stored
template.
As a method, the invention marks a reference point at a chosen Internet
site such as a page on the World Wide Web. It stores the address of the
page and a reference location on the page that is proximate to desired
data. The program generates and stores a label corresponding to the
desired data. When the program is later activated, it searches the Web for
the stored pages, accesses the site with the stored site address and
marked reference point and retrieves the targeted data at the site
corresponding to the stored label.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of a computer for practicing the invention.
FIG. 2 shows a complete overview of the invention.
FIG. 3 shows how the invention extracts items from Web pages.
FIG. 4 shows how the invention generates and stores filter scripts.
FIG. 5 shows an overview of the invention in a visual browser.
FIG. 6 shows how a visual browser uses filter scripts.
FIG. 7 shows the use of the filter scripts within a template file usable by
a telephone `browser`.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
With reference to FIG. 1, the invention is implemented as a computer
program that is stored on a hard disk drive (HDD) of a computer. Any
suitable computer storage may be used so long as the storage means is
accessible by the central processing unit (CPU) of the computer. The
typical computer includes a random access memory (RAM) that temporarily
holds program data and a read only memory (ROM) that holds computer
programs to operate the CPU. The computer communicates to the outside
world, including the World Wide Web (WWW), using a suitable input/output
(I/O) device such as a modem or a network card. The I/O device connects
the computer to the WWW through an Internet service provider (ISP). All of
the foregoing elements of hardware are conventional and well-known to
those skilled in the art. A browser is stored as a program on the ROM. The
user operates the browser 5 to navigate across the WWW.
FIG. 2 shows how the browser 5 operates with Web pages. The World Wide Web
consists in part of sets of user-readable Web pages 15, 16 prepared in
source documents 20, 21 in varying mixtures of ordinary text, markup
languages such as HTML or XML, and programming languages such as Java or
ActiveX. To read any Web page 15 or 16, the user accesses it using a
browser 5 which interprets a page's markup-language and
programming-language instructions into sensory information perceptible to
the user. Such sensory information may be visual, audible, tactile, or any
combination of the three. The browser 5 is conventionally stored on the
HDD of the computer.
The invention includes an editor 5 and a browser 5 capable of processing
scripts 25 and 26 produced by editor 5. Editor 5 may itself be an integral
part of a browser, an applet running within a browser, or a standalone
application. Scripts 25 and 26 may be produced by editor 5 in any
programming or markup language now or in the future usable within or in
conjunction with Web browsers; the list of such languages currently
includes Java, Javascript, HTML, XML, TCL, Visual Basic, and ActiveX. The
invention also supplies the user with storage space 30 for scripts 25 and
26 produced by editor 5. The processing performed by the invention,
including the execution of scripts 25 and 26, takes place on the user's
system as connected to the World Wide Web. All browser 5 accesses to Web
pages 15 and 16 referenced in scripts 25 and 26 take place across the
World Wide Web as for any ordinary Web page access. Note that although two
Web pages 15 and 16 and two respective scripts 25 and 26 are shown, there
may be any number of such Web pages and their respective scripts used. The
user applies the scripts 25 and 26 in a user-developed template 35 to
display a Web page 40.
Turning to FIG. 3, the stored filter scripts FS 1-8 that operate on
Webpages 1-5. The filter scripts includes scripts for Items 1-8 that are
stored on the Webpages 1-5. More particularly, Webpage 1 stores Item 1;
Webpage 2 stores Items 2 and 3; Webpage 3 stores Item 4; Webpage 5 stores
Items 5-7; Webpage 5 stores Item 8. The Webpages are filtered by the
filter scripts FS 1-8. The browser accesses each of the Webpages 1-5 on
the WWW. Each accessed page is read by the browser using the filter script
for the particular item. Located items are then extracted from the Webpage
and are inserted into one or more of the user's display templates. The
templates may be documents on the user's computer or Webpages that are
operated or controlled by the user. In the example of FIG. 5, all of the
items are inserted into the Userpage 1, Items 1,2, 5 and 6 are inserted in
Userpage 2 and Items 3,4, and 8 are inserted into Userpage 3. The
Userpages may be typical visual Web pages (Userpage 1), or custom
announcement pages for directory assistance (Userpage 2) or even tactile
display pages for browsing and reading data in Braille (Userpage 3). In a
simple example, the Items may be telephone numbers for customer assistance
at different companies. Userpage 1 has all the numbers, Userpage 2 has the
numbers of only PSTN and Internet companies and Userpage 3 has special
assistance numbers for Braille readers.
FIG. 4 shows in detail the process of filter script generation and storage.
The user accesses a desired Web page 15 with editor 10, highlights a
reference point 45 and a specific desired data item 50 of the accessed Web
page 15, and specifies a label 55 for script 25 to be used to access data
item 50. Editor 10 accepts user inputs 60, scans the source document 20
for Web page 15 to locate item 50, processes text, markup language and
programming language in source document 20 for item 50 to produce script
25, and stores script 25 under label 55 in a filter-script storage area 30
on the user's system.
FIG. 5 shows how a visual browser with the invention assembles Web data 50
and 76 into a template 35, through the application of editor-produced
scripts 25 and 26. Template 35, seen through a browser 5, is an ordinary
visual-display Web page 40, containing embedded references 95 and 96 to
scripts 25 and 26 wherever the user wishes script-accessible data 50 and
76 to appear.
FIG. 6 shows how a telephone browser assembles Web data 50 and 76 into an
audio template 105, through the application of one or more editor-produced
scripts 110 and 111. Template 105, translated through a browser 115, is a
telephone-accessible Web page 120, containing embedded references 95 and
96 to one or more scripts 110 and 111 wherever the user wishes
script-accessible data 50 and 76 to be played back in audible form.
The Operation of the Invention
The invention entails two overall processes: generation of scripts to
access specific components of Web pages, and execution of those scripts
using a template Web page to assemble the disparate Web page components on
a single page. A third process, the user's creation of the template Web
page, is an ordinary Web page design task, and is not an essential part of
the invention. References to the generated scripts embedded in the
template must follow acceptable rules of syntax and operation required by
the browsers to be used with the template.
See FIG. 4. In the generation process, the user retrieves a Web page 15
using editor 10. The user highlights or otherwise marks a reference point
45 of Web page 15 using editor 10, and highlights or otherwise marks a
desired data item 50 of Web page 15 using editor 10. The user then
specifies a label 55 to be used as an identifier for a retrieval script 25
to be generated for the marked area 50. The user then directs editor 10 to
produce script 25.
Editor 10 scans the source document 20 for Web page 15, locates reference
point 45, and locates marked area 50. Applying the information used to
find marked area 50, Editor 10 generates script 25 to perform the same
task of locating area 50. Script 25 includes, but is not confined to,
instructions for locating Web page 15 and instructions for locating
reference point 45 and marked area 50 in the source document 20 for Web
page 15. Editor 10 then stores script 25 in filter script storage 30 on
the user's system.
It should be noted that although a user may be able to mark a data item as
displayed on the screen, any stored markup or other language used to
produce the visual display may not be capable of straightforward scanning
and interpretation. For example, an apparently-static display may be
actually produced by the continuing execution of a screen-refreshing
program. In this situation, even the visual appearance of a single string
of text may not be reproducible in a script without including the code or
codes comprising the screen-refreshing program, along with any
interpreters or compilers capable of executing those codes.
The proposed editor, however, may well be constructed so as to support the
inclusion of such codes and their supporting interpreters, compilers and
other such software; in this case, the proposed invention's capabilities
address a wider range of potential script-development options.
Again, see FIG. 4. Wherever editor 10 detects a situation in which it
cannot produce a working filter script 25 for a Web page 15, editor 10
displays to the user a message (not shown) indicating the nature and
effects of the problem or problems it encountered.
See FIG. 5. At this point, scripts 25 and 26 are stored in filter-script
storage 30 and ready for use, and the user will have constructed template
35 containing references 95 and 96 to scripts 25 and 26 respectively.
References 95 and 96 are embedded in template 35 so as to display their
respective data in locations and forms specified in template 35. To
display template 35 with information filled in from other Web pages, the
user accesses template 35 using a browser 5. Browser 5 loads template 35,
based on references 95 and 96 processes scripts 25 and 26 included in
template 35, inserts script outputs (not shown) in template 35, and
displays page 40. Note that any number of such references may be
incorporated in template 35; the number of two references was used for
illustrative purposes only.
The same process takes place when a telephone browser is used with the
template. See FIG. 6. Scripts 110 and 111 are stored and ready for use,
and the user will have constructed template 105 containing references 95
and 96 to scripts 110 and 111 respectively. References 95 and 96 are
embedded in template 105 so as to play back their respective data in
locations and forms specified in template 105. To play back template 105
with information filled in from other Web pages, the user accesses
template 105 using a browser 115. Browser 115 loads template 105,
processes all scripts S4 included in template 105, inserts script outputs
(not shown) in template 105, and plays back template 105 with its
filled-in information. As with FIG. 5 and the visual browser, note that
any number of such references may be incorporated in template 105; the
number of two references was used for illustrative purposes only.
The use of the invention in concert with Web search software is quite
similar to the previously-described usages. The processing is as follows.
See FIG. 7. As a part of its overall task, Web indexing spider with the
proposed editor integrated 125, compiles Web references to the term
`Nortel`. Among many other references, spider 125 locates Web pages 15 and
131, notes their URLs, and uses its integrated editor to process the
source documents 20 and 136 to create scripts 140 and 141 for finding the
term `Nortel` on each page. Spider 125 stores each script with its URL and
a generated identifier in Web index 145 for the search engine 155.
When the user executes a search for `Nortel` using script-capable browser
150 and search engine 155, search engine 155 selects all index entries for
`Nortel` and formats them as search results 160 for browser 150 use.
Browser 150 displays the formatted results as a Web page 170, with the
term `Nortel` prominently placed in each result.
Alternate Embodiments of Invention
The use of a visual browser (FIG. 5) to display the template and its
filled-in data from other Web pages constitutes one embodiment of the
invention.
The use of a telephone browser (FIG. 6) to speak the template and its
filled-in data from other Web pages constitutes a separate embodiment of
the invention usable in telephony applications where only a telephone is
available for browsing. This embodiment offers the possibility of a
voice-based and customized directory service.
The use of a Braille or other tactile-translation browser (not illustrated)
to translate the template and its filled-in data from other pages into
tactile information constitutes a separate embodiment of the invention
usable in applications requiring tactile input to the user.
Constituting a separate embodiment of the invention, the invention's editor
may be incorporated into an indexing Web spider, in order to supply a Web
search-engine user with the position of the desired search term or terms
in the found pages. Ordinarily, the Web spider for a search engine scans
Web pages and returns for indexing purposes the identifier (URL) of the
page in which searchable text to be indexed is found. Integration of the
invention's editor in a Web spider, together with automation of the
assignments of reference points and labels, allows the spider to store
both the URL and the script to access the in-page location of the indexed
text. The index compiled by the spider then contains not only a URL for
each Web page in which the term is found, but also a script to point to
the precise location of the searched text within the page. The
search-engine software can then use the index to pinpoint and display the
found text. The user may therefore retrieve and display Web search results
without paging and manually searching in the found pages.
Illustrative Example
Turning to FIG. 5, to generate a filter script, a user navigates the
editor/browser to the Web page for the Nortel Networks stock quote from
Yahoo.com:
http://quote.yahoo.com/q?s=nt&d=v1. The user then highlights the text "NT"
on the displayed page, and clicks on the right mouse button, which
presents two entries: "Define Reference Point" and "Create Variable". The
user clicks on "Define Reference Point". The editor/browser then
incorporates the highlighted text ("NT") into a new filter script to
search the displayed Web page for that text. This action defines the text
on the displayed page to be used as a fixed reference point for locating
variable information on that page.
The user then highlights the stock price, which is a dynamic field (i.e.,
its value changes from time to time), clicks on the right mouse button
again, and then clicks on the entry "Create Variable". The editor/browser
then presents a dialog box requesting the name of a variable to be used to
access the highlighted stock price. The user enters the name
"nt_stock_price". The editor/browser then incorporates into its new script
the instructions necessary to locate and retrieve the stock price from the
Web page, using the specified reference point as a starting point for the
location and retrieval. (An example of one class of such instructions is a
script using search commands for the sed utility. Sed, using its script
commands, can extract specific data fields from a page of text using
previously-defined fixed reference points or patterns.)
The editor/browser then prompts the user to save the generated script; if
the user accepts, the script is saved on the user's system under the
variable name supplied by the user ("nt_stock_price").
The user then creates a template file of the user's own design. In this
file the user inserts references to the variables created in the manner
described above. An example using Unix scripting conventions might look
like this:
The current price of Nortel Networks stock is ${nt_stock_price}.
The template file is then saved, and a URL is generated which the user can
bookmark. At the time the template URL is accessed with a browser,
following a Unix-like pattern, the template is processed using a CGI
(Common Gateway Interface) script or other processing program which
expands each variable to its current value. When the variable
"nt_stock_rice" is encountered, its definition is retrieved, the URL is
fetched, and the associated filter script is run. The script substitutes
the resulting data into the position of ${nt_stock_price} in the template.
This illustration shows how accessing this template URL presents the
processed template with all embedded variables expanded to their values as
determined at the time the browser accessed the template.
This invention was originally conceived in the context of a Nortel
telephony application which uses text-to-speech technology. As an
enhancement to support a telephone interface, the template file could
contain embedded marker strings to indicate touch-tone jump points. An
example of such a template file might be:
<DTMF#> Nortel stock price is ${nt_stock_price}<DTMF#> Lucent
stock price is ${lu_stock_price}<DTMF#> Sun Microsystems stock price
is ${sun_stock_price}.
When played through a telephone browser, the computer recites the contents
of the filled-in template file. If the user hits a DTMF # key, the
computer jumps ahead to the next <DTMF #>marker. To jump directly to
a text section, a user could compose a template file such as the
following:
Press 1 for stock prices, press 2 for your horoscope, press 3 for weather.
<DTMF 1> Nortel stock is ${nt_stock_price}. Lucent stock price is
${lu_stock_price}. Sun Microsystems stock price is ${sun_stock_price}.
<DTMF 2> Your horoscope for today is ${horoscope}. <DTMF 3>
The weather today is ${todays_weather}.
This provides a telephone user a means to navigate quickly around template
files of the user's own design.
Conclusions, Ramifications and Scope
The description, operation and illustrative material shown here portray the
invention's unique ability to collect and display, on a single page, a
substantial number of items of information taken on a real-time basis from
many Web pages in many different locations. For a Web user, this
eliminates the task of performing such collection on a manual,
page-by-page basis. It has the additional advantage to the user of
permitting the application of distinct Web-page formatting to the
information collected.
Many programs have been written which visit site after site to compile
indices of information on Web pages everywhere, so that the Web user may
look up specific pages according to specified search criteria. These
programs are called `search engines`. All of these programs operate at a
page level: the smallest unit returned to the searching user is a complete
Web page, which the user must scan manually to find desired information.
By its incorporation in the indexing functions of a search engine, the
invention offers a step forward from the situation just described, in
terms of granularity of access. A user of a search engine employing the
invention will receive from a search not only indexing information on the
page, but also a precise script which, when executed by the user's
script-capable browser, will present the user with the exact location of
the terms the user searched. For the user, the script eliminates manual
searches within a Web page; for the search-engine supplier, the capability
just described offers added value for the product. For the telephone
browser, the reduction of returned results from a Web access produces cost
savings in storage and output requirements. The capabilities described
above make the invention useful to the Internet community at large, and
make it attractive to the developers and providers of browser and
search-engine software as an incorporated element in their products. To
the end user, the invention offers the ability to drastically lessen the
time spent hopping from site to site on the World Wide Web. For
telecommunications suppliers such as Nortel Networks, the invention
provides a strong component of Web software which can be marketed to
software-development firms as a value addition. The invention's
telephone-browser embodiment offers the telecommunications supplier an
attractive component to augment and leverage the sale of `smart`
telephones integrated in their operation and richness of function with the
World Wide Web itself. Although the description, operation and
illustrative material above contain many specifics, these specifics should
not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely
providing illustrations and examples of some of the preferred embodiments
of this invention. For example, the choices of programming languages,
filter-script languages and processing methods may be designed and
implemented in any combination which produces the effects specified for
this invention. Thus the scope of the invention should be determined by
the appended claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the
examples given above.
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