METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UTILIZING DOCUMENT TYPE DEFINITION TO GENERATE STRUCTURED DOCUMENTS

• US 20010032218A1
• Filed: 01/05/2001
• Published: 10/18/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Xmlcities
• Original Assignee: Xmlcities
• Inventors: Huang, Evan S.
• Application Number:
  US09/754,969
• Publication Number:
  US 20010032218A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/513
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/157 using dictionaries or tables
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/216 using statistical methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination

Abstract

The use of identifiers in user-defined document type definitions is disclosed for converting unstructured documents to structured documents. The identifiers in user-defined document type definitions are used to associate selected objects or group objects in the unstructured documents so that association information of the selected objects or group objects can facilitate the generation of files in a markup language suitable for presentations on various media.

Claims

1. A method for producing structured documents, the method comprising:

receiving a definition file including document type definitions (DTD);

displaying a metafile along with the definition file, the metafile including a number of displayable objects and respective decoration attributes about each of the displayable objects; and

associating at least one of the definitions in the definition file with one of the displayable objects.

2. The method of

claim 1

further comprising:

generating a modified metafile that includes the displayable objects, each being associated with the at least one of the definitions in the definition file.

3. The method of

claim 2

further comprising converting modified metafile to a markup language file in accordance with a set of mapping rules.

4. The method of

claim 1

, wherein the definition file includes a structure for document elements, each corresponding to one of the displayable objects in the metafile.

5. The method of

claim 4

, wherein some of the document elements include another layer of sub-document elements, each of subdocument elements corresponds to one of the displayable objects in the metafile.

6. The method of

claim 4

, wherein at least some of the document elements include respectively a number of identifiers, each of the identifiers being assigned to one of the at least some of the document elements.

7. The method of

claim 6

, wherein some of the identifiers are one or more of numerals and alphabets.

8. The method of

claim 6

, wherein some of the identifiers are selected from a group consisting of a font type, a color name, a size, a style, and an effect.

9. The method of

claim 6

, wherein the associating of the at least one of the definitions in the definition file comprises:

selecting one of the displayable objects; and

assigning one of the identifiers to the selected display object.

10. The method of

claim 9

, wherein the one of the identifiers is either a numeral or an alphabet.

11. The method of

claim 10

, wherein the one of the identifiers is one or more of (i) a font type, (ii) a color, (iii) a size, (iv) a style, and (v) an effect.

12. The method of

claim 1

, wherein the metafile is or is generated from an unstructured document that is composed, edited or managed by an authoring tool.

13. The method of

claim 12

, wherein some of the displayable objects are respective groups of characters.

14. The method of

claim 13

, wherein some of the decoration attributes include at least positions, font color, font size, font type, style, and effect for each of the groups of characters.

15. A method for producing structured documents, the method comprising:

activating an environment including a first display and a second display, the first display displaying a metafile and the second display displaying a definition file including document type definitions (DTD), wherein the metafile including a number of displayable objects and respective decoration attributes about each of the displayable objects, and wherein each of the document type definitions includes an identifier;

grouping a number of group objects, each of the group objects including a number of the displayable objects; and

associating each of the group objects with the identifier in one of the document type definitions.

16. The method of

claim 15

further comprising generating a modified metafile including information of each of the group objects being associated with the identifier in one of the document type definitions.

17. The method of

claim 16

further comprising:

converting the modified metafile to a markup language file in accordance with mapping rules.

18. The method of

claim 17

wherein the markup language file is suitable for presentation on a selected media.

19. The method of

claim 18

wherein the selected media is a web presentation on the Internet.

20. The method of

claim 18

wherein the markup language file is based on a markup language selected from a group consisting of HyperText Markup Language (HTML), compact HyperText Markup Language (cHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) or Wireless Markup Language (WML).

21. The method of

claim 15

wherein some of the decoration attributes include at least position, font type, color, size, style, and effect for each of the groups of characters.

22. The method of

claim 21

wherein some of the displayable objects are respective groups of characters.

23. The method of

claim 22

, wherein the identifier is one or more of a numeral and an alphabet.

24. The method of

claim 23

, wherein the identifier is one or more of (i) a font type, (ii) a color, (iii) a size, (iv) a style, and (v) an effect.

25. A machine-readable medium embodying instructions for execution by a processor, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to produce structured documents, the machine-readable medium comprising:

program code for receiving a definition file including document type definitions (DTD);

program code for displaying a metafile along with the definition file, the metafile including a number of displayable objects and respective decoration attributes about each of the displayable objects; and

program code for associating at least one of the definitions in the definition file with one of the displayable objects.

26. The machine-readable medium of

claim 25

further comprising:

program code for generating a modified metafile that includes the displayable objects, each being associated with the at least one of the definitions in the definition file.

27. The machine-readable medium of

claim 25

further comprising program code for converting modified metafile to a markup language file in accordance with a set of mapping rules.

28. The machine-readable medium of

claim 25

, wherein the definition file includes a structure for document elements, each corresponding to one of the displayable objects in the metafile.

29. The machine-readable medium of

claim 28

, wherein some of the document elements include another layer of sub-document elements, each of sub-document elements corresponds to one of the displayable objects in the metafile.

30. The machine-readable medium of

claim 28

, wherein at least some of the document elements include respectively a number of identifiers, each of the identifiers being assigned to one of the at least some of the document elements.

31. The machine-readable medium of

claim 30

, wherein some of the identifiers are one of either numerals or alphabets.

32. The machine-readable medium of

claim 30

, wherein some of the identifiers are selected from a group consisting of a font type, a color, a size, a style, and an effect.

33. The machine-readable medium of

claim 30

, wherein the associating of the at least one of the definitions in the definition file comprises:

program code for selecting one of the displayable objects; and

program code for assigning one of the identifiers to the selected display object.

34. The machine-readable medium of

claim 33

, wherein the one of the identifiers is one or more of a numeral and an alphabet.

35. The machine-readable medium of

claim 34

, wherein the one of the identifiers is one or more of (i) a font type, (ii) a color, (iii) a size, (iv) a style, and (v) an effect.

36. The machine-readable medium of

claim 25

, wherein the metafile is or is generated from an unstructured document that is composed, edited or managed by an authoring tool.

37. The machine-readable medium of

claim 36

, wherein some of the displayable objects are respective groups of characters.

38. The machine-readable medium of

claim 37

, wherein some of the decoration attributes include at least position, font type, color, size, style, and effect for each of the groups of characters.

39. A machine-readable medium embodying instructions for execution by a processor, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to produce structured documents, the machine-readable medium comprising:

program code for activating an environment including a first display and a second display, the first display displaying a metafile and the second display displaying a definition file including document type definitions (DTD), wherein the metafile including a number of displayable objects and respective decoration attributes about each of the displayable objects, and wherein each of the document type definitions includes an identifier;

program code for grouping a number of group objects, each of the group objects including a number of the displayable objects; and

program code for associating each of the group objects with the identifier in one of the document type definitions.

40. The machine-readable medium of

claim 39

further comprising program code for generating a modified metafile including information of each of the group objects being associated with the identifier in one of the document type definitions .

41. The machine-readable medium of

claim 40

further comprising program code for converting the modified metafile to a markup language file in accordance with mapping rules.

42. The method of

claim 39

wherein some of the decoration attributes include at least position, font type, color, size, style, and effect for each of the groups of characters and wherein some of the displayable objects are respective groups of characters.