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Method and apparatus for enabling real time monitoring and notification of data updates for WEB-based data synchronization services    
United States Patent6633910   
Link to this pagehttp://www.wikipatents.com/6633910.html
Inventor(s)Rajan; Steeranga P. (Santa Clara, CA); Wu; Jonathan (Mountain View, CA)
AbstractAn Internet subscription system for alerting subscribers to changes in data maintained at Internet sites has an input interface for a subscriber to specify a data condition to be monitored and a condition for notification and a gatherer for gathering data changes from one or more Internet sites. A guard compares data changes with the condition for notification, and a notification alert system notifies the subscriber of a change that meets the condition for notification. The system is particularly suited to notification requirements regarding metadata changes over multiple sources. Users can configure the system to many different frequencies and many different data and notification conditions. Alerts may be made to many different devices in different ways as well, and may or may not include specific data.
   














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Drawing from US Patent 6633910
Method and apparatus for enabling real time monitoring and notification of

     data updates for WEB-based data synchronization services - US Patent 6633910 Drawing
Method and apparatus for enabling real time monitoring and notification of data updates for WEB-based data synchronization services
Inventor     Rajan; Steeranga P. (Santa Clara, CA); Wu; Jonathan (Mountain View, CA)
Owner/Assignee     Yodlee.com, Inc. (Redwood Shores, CA)
Patent assignment
All assignments
Publication Date     October 14, 2003
Application Number     09/461,505
PAIR File History     Application Data   Transaction History
Image File Wrapper   Patent Term   Fees
Litigation
Filing Date     December 14, 1999
US Classification     709/224 709/221 709/226
Int'l Classification     G06F  015/173
Examiner     Maung; Zarni
Assistant Examiner    
Attorney/Law Firm     Boys; Donald R. Central Coast Patent Agency, Inc.
Address
Parent Case     CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED DOCUMENTS The present invention is a continuation-in-part (CIP) to a patent application entitled "Method and Apparatus for Restructuring of Personalized Data for Transmission from a Data Network to Connected and Portable Network Appliances" filed on Sep. 16, 1999 and accorded Ser. No. 09/398,320, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,477,565, disclosure of which is included in it's entirety by reference. The present invention is further related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/323,598 filed on Jun. 1, 1999 and entitled "Method and Apparatus for Obtaining and Presenting WEB Summaries to Users", now U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,077, disclosure of which is also included herein by reference.
Priority Data    
USPTO Field of Search     709/224 709/226 709/221 709/234 717/168 717/171 717/172 717/173 717/174
Patent Tags     enabling real time monitoring notification of data updates web-based data synchronization services
   
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What is claimed is:

1. An Internet subscription system for alerting subscribers to changes in data maintained at Internet sites, comprising:

an input interface for a subscriber to specify a data condition to be monitored and a condition for notification;

a gatherer for gathering data changes from one or more Internet sites;

a guard for comparing data changes with the condition for notification; and

a notification alert system for notifying the subscriber, at a communication device other than an Internet-connected device, of a change that meets the condition for notification;

characterized in that the alert includes specific data gathered from the specified Internet sites.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the condition for notification comprises changes in the data at two or more data sources.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a user-amendable time function to control frequency of access by the gatherer to Internet sites.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the device is one of a cell telephone, a pager, or a hand-held computing device.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the alert system sends an alert by the Internet network to a client's Internet-connected device.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the alert system sends an alert by a wireless network to a device compatible with the wireless network but incapable of Internet connection.

7. A method for alerting a subscriber to changes in metadata, comprising steps of:

(a) configuring a subscription service by the subscriber to monitor specific data at specific Internet-connected sites;

(b) setting a metadata notification condition on the subscription service by the subscriber;

(c) gathering data changes from the specific Internet-connected sites;

(d) processing the data changes for meeting the condition for notification; and

(e) providing a notification alert to the subscriber at a communication device other than an Internet-connected device, for a change in the metadata that meets the condition for notifications;

wherein the alert includes specific data gathered from the Internet sites.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising a step for a user to set a time function to control frequency of processing and comparison of metadata with the condition for notification.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the notification alert in step (e) comprises an alert on the Internet network to a client's Internet-connected device.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein, in step (e) the alert is made by a wireless network to a device compatible with the wireless network but incapable of Internet connection.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the device is one of a cell telephone, a pager, or a hand-held computing device.
 Description Submit all comments and votes
 


FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the field of network information services including data gathering and transmission over wired and wireless network connections and pertains more particularly to methods and apparatus for monitoring changes to aggregated data in real time and notifying user/subscribers of such changes over user-prescribed mediums and connected devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The information system known in the art as the Internet, and the Internet subset known as the World Wide Web (WWW), is the largest publicly accessible source of information in the world. Anyone with an Internet-capable appliance and an Internet connection can navigate the Web to access virtually any type of data that may be held in any one of millions of network-connected servers adapted for the purpose.

The most usual network appliance used for navigating the Web and downloading data therefrom is the personal computer (PC). More recently however, a host of other electronic communication devices have been adapted for network connection and navigation on the Internet. Some of these better known devices include cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDA's), pagers, and notebook and laptop computers. Some types of these appliances access the Internet via wireless connection. In other cases, data from the Internet is transmitted to such devices through a gateway to a network specific to the device. An example would be that of a cellular phone or pager capable of accessing e-mail and other Internet accounts information.

The Internet operates under a shared bandwidth protocol wherein data packets are transmitted. Each transmission competes with all other current transmissions for available bandwidth resources. The total amount of bandwidth resource available to network appliances accessing the Internet is a function of network traffic, reliability and capability of lines, power of appliance processor, nature of intermediary network, and a host of other variables. It is not always possible to maintain an Internet connection for any reliable length of time considering all of these variables. Sometimes, there are periods when a device simply cannot gain access at all. In other cases physical connection is only possible on a periodic basis, and an appliance is therefore only intermittently connected.

Even with the more powerful and traditional PCs and notebook computers there may be times when available bandwidth suddenly drops resulting in a disconnect or "moof" as it is often termed. If a moof occurs when attempting to download data, another attempt must be made to reaccess the network, re-navigate to the data source, and attempt a retry of the data download. This can be frustrating for users operating such devices as cell phones, pagers or PDA's which are already operating on high latency and/or low bandwidth connections.

Administrators of network equipment and connection architecture as well as companies that host such as WEB-based information services and the like are improving aspects of communication with various portable network devices by upgrading lines and equipment, developing better data compression and bandwidth reservation techniques and lobbying for more bandwidth for wireless intermediary networks. However, one area that has been largely overlooked is the very format and structure of data that is transmitted. For example, HTML or XML-scripted content is largely unsuitable for transmission under low bandwidth conditions to small portable devices. As a result, such devices having lower memory and operating under lower bandwidth resources are limited to certain types of data such as only e-mail or voice mail.

A system known to the inventor and listed under the Cross-Reference to Related Documents section provides a capability of automated login and navigation to Internet or other network-connected sources for the purpose of retrieving and presenting WEB summaries to subscribers according to client/enterprise directives. This service uses scripted templates prepared by knowledge workers using known site logic to enable navigation, not just to the site, but to specific content posted on the site. A parsing method is then used to identify appropriate data based on the provided script directives.

The data obtained by the above-described method is stored in a server-accessible data repository for user access (via PC), or pushed to a user (PC or alternate appliance) according to enterprise rules. The data is typically presented in the form of a WEB page made accessible to a user having suitable equipment for retrieving and viewing such a page. However, in another embodiment, the data is re-formatted for transmission to a user-specified Internet appliance such as a cell phone, laptop, PDA, etc. The user must typically first access the service using a device that supports a browser interface. Data is then forwarded to alternative devices only on user request, and assuming the user has configured his or her alternative device for the service. In order to receive some types of data, special software and/or hardware changes must be made to the alternative appliances.

The above service does not support independent device access to the Internet (except for devices already capable of browser navigation), nor can it deliver certain content retrieved in a format that is not readily convertible to a format specific to the software running on such alternative devices. Moreover much content that would be convertible may still overload the memory of certain alternative devices, such as pagers or cell phones, if additional data restructuring and synchronization steps are not taken.

It will be appreciated that there is a growing variety of existing and new portable-type devices that are being adapted for Internet access. Most of these devices communicate according to device-specific protocol and are unable to receive and disseminate certain other types of data under normal circumstance. Furthermore, low bandwidth connection states and limited memory provisions preclude many of these devices from broad Internet navigation capabilities and limit download capability in terms of time and type of data content that may be received.

A system known to the inventor and described in the cross-referenced patent application entitled "Method and Apparatus for Restructuring of Personalized Data for Transmission from a Data Network to Connected and Portable Network Appliances" allows data aggregated on a user's behalf to be restructured for delivery to varied portable devices by either a push or pull method. The data is restructured such that it may be easily stored and displayed according to specific device protocol. User/subscribers may elect to pre-configure a number of devices to the service. Once configured to the service, such devices may be used to synchronize with the aggregated data source maintained by the service on behalf of the user.

A possible problem with this system is that a user must periodically log-on and attempt synchronization with the aggregated data source to see if any new data has arrived. If new data is pushed to a user, it may happen at an inconvenient time such as when a user is engaged in some other important activity with a designated receiving device. In one aspect user notification of new data is posted on a WEB page such as a user's home page. However, a user must access the page with an Internet-navigation-capable device in order to see if there is any new data.

What is clearly needed is a method and apparatus allowing a user/subscriber to specify events and event triggers that may occur in data specific to the user and maintained for the user at specified Web sites, and for monitoring changes to such data on behalf of the user, and then notifying to the user of the occurrence of such data changes and events over any user-selected and defined medium and communication device. Such a system would be a convenience to a user in that he or she would be conveniently made aware of the existence of new aggregated data and/or specific and user-defined events in data, before having to log on to the service to check for new data, or having other important work interrupted by an unscheduled data-push to an otherwise engaged peripheral device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention an Internet subscription system for alerting subscribers to changes in data maintained at Internet sites is provided, comprising an input interface for a subscriber to specify a data condition to be monitored and a condition for notification; a gatherer for gathering data changes from one or more Internet sites; a guard for comparing data changes with the condition for notification; and a notification alert system for notifying the subscriber of a change that meets the condition for notification.

In various embodiments of the system of the invention the condition for notification comprises data changes at two or more sites (metadata changes). In some embodiments there is a user-amendable time function to control frequency of access by the gatherer to Internet sites. Also in various the alert system sends an alert by the Internet network to a client's Internet-connected device. Such an alert may or may not include specific data from the sites in addition to the alert. Alerts may be by the Internet, by message systems to which a user subscribes, or by wireless network to devices not enabled for Internet connection, such as pagers and cell phones.

The system of the invention and methods of practicing the invention are taught in enabling detail below, and provide for the first time a way for subscribers to monitor a very broad range of data, and to configure sophisticated conditions for a service to compare and notify the subscriber of changes in data over multiple sites.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a basic overview of a communication network wherein a data aggregation and tunneling service is hosted and operated according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hierarchy existing between various components of the data aggregation and tunneling service of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary client request/result loop progressing through the various process phases attributed to the service of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating integration of various components of the monitoring and notification software of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method and apparatus is provided that allows virtually any Internet-based data to be accessed, restructured, and then transmitted to a wide variety of network-capable appliances without requiring special software or hardware additions to the receiving devices, and in a form that the receiving device may display the data using an existing application on the device typically used for an entirely different purpose and function. Such method and apparatus is described in enabling detail below.

FIG. 1 is a basic overview of a communication network 9 wherein a data aggregation and tunneling service is hosted and operated according to an embodiment of the present invention. Communication network 9 comprises a data packet network 11, which is the well known Internet in this example, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 15, and at least one exemplary wireless data network 13.

Network 11 may be another type of data packet network instead of the Internet such as perhaps a private or corporate wide area network (WAN) as long as Transfer Control Protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) or other suitable network protocols are supported. Network 11, hereinafter referred to as Internet 11 for example purposes, is exemplified herein as a preferred embodiment because of the large public accessibility to the network. Such public accessibility lends to a preferred embodiment for hosting a large data-information service such as the service described in the cross-referenced application 09/323,598.

Internet 11 may comprise any geographical portion of the global network including such as data sub-networks connected thereto. Internet 11 has an Internet backbone 19 distributed throughout, which represents the many lines and connections making up the wired Internet. Three data servers 21, 23, and 25 are illustrated within Internet 11 and connected to backbone 19.

Servers 21-25 are, in this embodiment, file servers known in the art for serving data in such as hypertext markup language (HTML), XML, or other suitable languages associated with electronic information pages known as WEB pages in the art. It should be noted here that servers 21-25 are not limited to only serving WEB pages. In some embodiments, other data such as E-commerce data associated with on-line forms, digital authorization certificates, secure digital signature forms and the like, may also be held in such servers. Moreover, any one of servers 21-25 may be adapted as an E-mail server or may be subject to any other adaptation for serving data.

ISP 15 is adapted, in this example, for providing Internet connection services as known in the art. Illustrated within ISP 15 are a main connection server 33, a mass data-repository 31, and a modem bank 29. Main server 33 is directly connected to Internet 11 as shown. Main sever 33 is adapted to perform normal Internet service routines as known in the art, and is additionally enhanced via a unique software instance 51 for enabling practice of the present invention.

In one embodiment, an additional server may be provided for executing software 51 and enabling practice of the present invention in conjunction with main server 33. In another embodiment, more than one such server may be provided and adapted to execute individual instances of software 51. The inventor illustrates just one server 33 and SW 51 for the purpose of simplifying illustration and deems it sufficient for the purpose of explaining the present invention.

Main server 33 is connected to a data center 37 by a data link 35. Data center 37, among other tasks, provides an ISP (Internet) interface to server 33 for various wireless data networks represented by network 13. Network 13 is further characterized by the illustration of a communication satellite 17, which provides satellite rebroadcast of uplinked data streams from data center 37 and a backlink to data center 37 as illustrated by a dotted double arrow. As previously described, network 13 may be plural in the sense that plural wireless data networks common to certain communication devices may accomplish an interface to ISP 15 (server 33) through such as satellite 17 or another type of wireless transceiver/receiver and data center 37.

Within network 13 a variety of Internet-capable appliances are illustrated. As examples there are a pager 39, a notebook computer 41, and a cellular telephone 43. In this example, appliances 39-43 broadcast data, which is picked up by satellite 17 and relayed to data center 37. Similarly, data arriving to satellite 17 from data center 37 is broadcast to and received by appliances 39, 43, and 41 as illustrated herein with dotted double arrows representing respective two-way communication links. In the case of appliances 39 and 43, network 13 might be a cellular network typically implemented for those devices. In the case of notebook 41, network 13 may be a wireless Internet service using cellular or other suitable wireless technologies.

As previously described, main server 33 is also connected to modem bank 29 as is known in the art of landline Internet access through an ISP. A personal computer (PC) 45 operated by a user/subscriber to the service of the present invention is illustrated as connected to modem bank 29 by an Internet connection line 49. Line 49 may be a conventional telephone line, an integrated digital services network (ISDN) connection line, or any other suitable wired connection such as ADSL. A PDA 47 is illustrated by a dotted double arrow as having a wireless communication link to PC 45 as is common in the art of computer peripherals.

In the example of a subscriber service, data repository 31 would contain data about individual subscribers to the service of the present invention (user profiles and other user-specific records). Repository 31 may be an optical storage facility or any other convenient facility that is adapted for storing large amounts of data. Repository 31 is illustrated as connected to main server 33 by a data connection 27. In this example, repository 31 is considered an off-line storage facility that is accessible to server 33. In another embodiment repository 31 may be a part of server 33, or in any other network-connected location such as on-line, or on a connected local area network (LAN). In addition to holding data specific to individual subscribers such as account information, address parameters, user ID and authorization data, repository 31 may also hold data gathered from such as Internet 11 before being delivered to or being accessed by users.

SW 51 executing on server 33 is provided, for the purpose of enabling a unique data-gathering and tunneling service that allows users operating such as appliances 39-43, and 47 to have structured access to data such as may be sourced in one of servers 21-25; and, to have the data restructured in an intelligent fashion for delivery to a specific Internet appliance that may not be normally adapted for receiving and displaying the data.

Software 51 provides, in this case, a unique subscriber service hosted by ISP 15 in which the service may be accessed and utilized by using any lnternet-capable appliance . For the purpose of discussion, an Internet-capable appliance shall include any electronic communication device capable of a direct or indirect (through a connected network) connection to a data packet network such as Internet 11. Such devices may also include devices that may only receive data from such as Internet 11 as long as a separate device is used to access the service and upload a data request.

In practice of the present invention, a user operating such as cellular telephone 41, for example, accesses ISP 15 from anywhere in network 13 through a wireless path, exemplified herein by satellite 17 to data center 37, and registers a request for data. The data request in some cases may be manually initiated by a user, and in other cases automatically initiated on a periodic basis while the device is connected to the Internet. In some cases a request will he automatically initiated when the device connects to the Internet.

The nature of a request may vary under a broad set of rules set-up by a hosting enterprise (ISP 15) for types of requests. For example, one request may be for a data result of a site-specific search according to defined parameters such as was described in the characterization of a WEB summary disclosed in application Ser. No. 09/323,598. Another type of request may be for information about departure/arrival parameters and gate instructions associated with purchased airline tickets. Still another type of request may include a desire to access only the existing incoming mail from a certain individual or individuals. There are many possibilities. In a preferred embodiment a script for data requests may be a part of a user profile, and a single generic request from a user may trigger a variety of data searches and retrievals from Internet 11 on behalf of the user.

Data center 37 processes requests from network 13 and forwards them to main server 33 where they implemented. Various technological enhancements may be implemented in data center 37 to facilitate communication and interface capability with various portable appliances such as appliances 39-43. One example would be to provide an interactive voice response (IVR) unit (not shown) that may take a vocal or touch-tone initiated request originating from such as cell phone 43. Such an IVR may be included in data center 37 as a client interface.

The nature and content of a request from cell phone 43, for example, is analyzed and restructured into an equivalent Internet Protocol (P) request that can be uploaded into main server 33 over data link 35. This process is, in a preferred embodiment, performed in data center 37 with the data center having access to a portion of software 51 dedicated to the specific function. In another embodiment, a specific portion of software 51 may be provided to be executable on a connected machine at data center 37 for the purpose of analyzing requests of varied protocol and restructuring them into requests that can be understood on server 33.

Once a request from cell phone 43 is registered in main server 33 as an IP data request, data about the user is accessed from repository 31 for verification and authorization purposes. A scripted template supplied by a knowledge worker (not shown) is provided for accessing site logic during navigation and parsing as initiated by SW 51. Such knowledge workers may be stationed at data center 37, ISP 15, or any other centralized location that is connected to the service by network connection. The scripting, navigating, and parsing technology is fully explained and detailed in the co-related application Ser. No. 09/323,598. However, further innovation is required in order to accomplish the goal of the present invention, which is the intelligent restructuring of data coming into and leaving from the service of the present invention.

In the present example a ready request is queued for execution by SW 51 according to on-demand or in a scheduled fashion. Server 33, upon executing the request, navigates to one or more of servers 21-25 (for example, as representative of plural servers in the Internet) holding the requested data. The location of the data is then identified according to site logic provided in the scripted template. Located data is then parsed for specified content to be returned. The resulting data is aggregated in repository 31 if the request has a scheduled delivery or user-access time. If the return data follows an on-demand criteria, then it is immediately processed and delivered over data link 35 to data center 37 for further processing before being broadcast over network 13 to a user operating such as cell phone 43.

In another aspect of the present invention, requests and return data may be registered and received by a user operating a PDA such as PDA 47, which is a peripheral to PC 45 illustrated as wired to Internet 11. In this embodiment, a user operating PDA 47 registers a request to PC 45. The request is analyzed and uploaded to server 33 under control from PDA 47. Additional processing concerning obtaining and returning information is the same as with previously described embodiment except that instead of using data center 37 as an interface, PC 45 acts as the interfacing machine. If requested data arrives to PC 45 in a format that is not discernable to PDA 47, then data restructuring may be performed in PC 45 by a provided instance of SW 51 that is dedicated to the purpose. PDA 47 would require no modification in either hardware or software. In yet another embodiment the client machine may be PC 45.

The method and apparatus of the present invention provides a unique capability of restructuring data in an intelligent way. That is, instead of simply converting one format of data into another, a first data set is analyzed and understood so that an alternate data set in a format specific to applications executable on a receiving device may be created that reflects the desired content and function of the first data set. More detail about how this is accomplished is provided below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hierarchy and data transformation and flow existing between various components of the data aggregation and tunneling service of FIG. 1. The service of the present invention in a preferred embodiment comprises three basic component layers. These component layers are illustrated herein as layer 53, layer 55 and layer 57. Layer 53 is best described as a source-data interface layer. This portion of the service is dedicated to navigating to and obtaining data from Internet-connected data sources. Data sources (S1-n) are analogous to servers 21-25 of FIG. 1. It will be appreciated that the number of data sources that are available on a network such as Internet 11 (FIG. 1) is vast. Data collected from S1-Sn is continually aggregated into such as repository 31 (FIG. 1) as indicated by the bi-directional arrows linking each S1-Sn to aggregation service 54. Aggregated data is tagged according to requesting user and target receiving device.

Layer 53 includes all of the means and processes required for locating and parsing user-requested data according to site-specific scripting techniques and funneling the collected data back to aggregation for storage under a user-specific ID parameters. Most, if not all of the data retrieved in layer 53 will be in the form of HTML, XML, or a similar protocol. Other than XML types of data may include various multimedia types associated with audio and video data, animated graphic data, or still graphic data. All data requested by any one user is aggregated under that user's ID parameters.

Data stored in aggregation is forwarded to layer 55 according to a pre-assigned schedule for processing. Layer 55 provides an internal process comprising data restructuring and primary interface capabilities. Data processing is the first phase of layer 55 as illustrated by process 56. It is in the main the data processing phase that is unique and distinguishes the present invention from that disclosed in the copending and referenced application Ser. No. 09/323,598.

Instead of simply converting data from one language or format into another in an attempt to render it usable to a specific Internet appliance, the present invention seeks to rewrite original data in an alternate format or language that accurately represents the data presented in the original format in terms of content and function. Data expressed in this alternate format (standardized) is then restructured into the appropriate device-specific format for transmission.

To accomplish the above-described task, it is required that data obtained in layer 53 be at least machine-legible in its given language or format and understood by software 51. SW 51 must also know parameters encompassing the formats and data presentation schemes of various software routines used in various Internet-capable appliances. For example, an HTML description of a flight reservation and gate instruction as presented on an information page (WEB page) would not be expressed as a text block in such as an electronic calendar, or a PDA. Rather, the same information would have to be restructured and expressed as a series of entries expressing time and date functions associated with the particular flight schedule.

In a preferred embodiment, an algorithm is employed as part of software 51 that can take information from provided input data-templates and restructure the information to fit pre-designed and associated output data-templates. For example, an input template is created for one or more records of network-based data. The input template renders the original data into a proprietary language similar to HTML and XML. The proprietary language or code expresses the original data in a standard format that may then be manipulated by algorithm. The input template holds the rendered data according to mapped slots.

An output template is created that is generic to the parameters and presentation scheme associated with a specific Internet-capable appliance that will receive the data record or records. The output template holds the specific slots wherein data will be rendered by the algorithm. The algorithm uses provided data-restructuring rules to identify data contained in an input data template and re-map it by matching the data to appropriate data-slots presented in an output data template. As a result, one or more input records (parsed and rendered data) will produce one or more output records (data remapped by algorithm).

Data templates as described above, are not analogous to logic templates described in the co-related application Ser. No. 09/323,598. Data templates work in conjunction with scripted logic-templates used to find and parse the requested data. Input templates are request-generic while output templates are device-generic. For example, there are many variations of data formats and languages that can be used when presenting data on a WEB page. Therefore, an input template should be modeled to facilitate the specific data fields, language, and format in which requested data is expected to be found. In some cases, an input template may be enhanced to support a variety of differing formats and or languages, and be made to hold more slots for data not necessarily requested. The output template is device generic and contains only usable data-slots that may be presented on its associated device.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a knowledge base (not shown) could be provided as part of SW 51 and used to equate data parameters associated with frequently requested data types from a network to data parameters that are generic to various network appliances. In this method, categories and titles describing oft-requested data records such as flight reservations, account balance information, order status information, and the like are created, coded and stored in the knowledge base. Device-specific equivalents described as rules for presenting the type data to each specific model device are also stored in the knowledge base and equated.

When a data request comes in, a runtime engine (software application) takes the input data and finds the category and subtitle that matches it. Then the data presentation rules concerning the specific receiving device are matched from the knowledge base. In this way, appropriate output records may be created that are specific to the type and model of device that is targeted to receive the data.

In one embodiment, the knowledge base method is used in conjunction with the template/algorithm method. As use of the service progresses, the knowledge base is updated with new categories and subtitles associated with repetitive requests. The knowledge base may also be updated to reflect parameters associated with new types and models of network capable devices. There are many such possibilities.

Component layer 55 includes an interfacing data center such as data center 37 represented in FIG. 1 and a desktop PC such as PC 45 of FIG. 1. Output templates contain device specific data that is ready for transmission to target devices such as devices 39-47 of FIG. 1. As output templates are completed, they may be held for requesting users at a storage facility (not shown) held in a data center, or pushed to requesting users based on the original request. Similarly, output records destined for such as Internet-connected PCs may be held therein for remote access, or pushed to requesting users operating peripherals such as PDA 47 of FIG. 1.

Component layer 57 represents various network capable appliances as described above and their associated transmission networks. Illustrated within layer 57 is a PDA with a remote (wireless) link to PC in layer 55 as shown by double-arrow connecting line. Also illustrated within layer 57 is a pager, a notebook, and a mobile phone, all having remote (wireless) connections to the data center represented in layer 55 as shown by the double-arrow connecting lines. The PC illustrated in layer 55 may be a desktop PC operated by one or more users. In another embodiment, it may be a powerful workstation shared by many users. The represented data center has all of the interface means required to bridge the appliances of layer 57 to the service.

It will be apparent to one with skill in the art that knowledge workers associated with creating input and output templates may perform their services from anywhere in a connected network without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In one embodiment, input templates are supplied by knowledge workers associated with the service, while output templates are created by knowledge workers that are associated with various network hosting entities.

In another embodiment, the service of the present invention may be provided as a turnkey package wherein companies may set-up their own specific information services using the implements of the present invention.

It will also be apparent to one with skill in the art that an intermediary language derived in part from HTML and XML languages may be proprietary in nature and used as an intermediary data-conversion language between such as pure HTML and device specific protocol without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Codes specific to such an intermediate language may be licensed to entities wishing to recreate the service for their own purposes.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating client request/result loop progressing through the various process phases of the service of the present invention in a preferred embodiment. In step 57 a client (user/subscriber) initiates a request for data. Such a request may be initiated from a network capable appliance like appliances 39-43 of FIG. 1. A client may also initiate a request from a standard PC such as PC 45 of FIG. 1, or a PDA such as PDA 47 of FIG. 1. Browser software of any sort is not required for a device to access the service. In this way, a low bandwidth device may be used to practice the present invention without depending on a parent or associated machine. For example, devices not having IP capability or navigational software would interface with such as data center 37 of FIG. 1 in order to gain access. Appropriate equipment and means for bridging networks is made available in data center 37. An Int