Information processing system, proxy server, web page display method, storage medium, and program transmission apparatus

• US 20010054049A1
• Filed: 12/19/2000
• Published: 12/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Torihara, Shinichi, Kobayashi, Makoto, Maeda, Junji
• Granted Patent: US 7,085,999 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/236
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents

Abstract

The present invention provides a means to display the contents of a document using a selected display condition, while preserving the layout of the document. It provides an information processing system comprising: a web browser for displaying a document having a predetermined layout; and a display controller for controlling a method used by the web browser to display the document. The display controller includes: a layout structure analyzer for analyzing the structure of the layout for the document; a region arrangement determiner for dividing a web page under a desired display condition, whereby the contents of the page are displayed in order to display the document in accordance with regions that are allocated and that reflect the structure of the document layout obtained by the layout structure analyzer; and an intra-region contents determiner for determining which contents of the document are to be displayed inside each of the allocated regions that are determined by the region arrangement determiner.

Claims

1. An information processing system comprising:

document display means for displaying a document having a predetermined layout; and

display control means for controlling a method used by said document display means to display said document, said display control means including

a layout structure analyzer for analyzing the structure of the layout of said document,

a region arrangement determiner for dividing a web page, under a desired display condition whereby the contents of said page are displayed, in order to display said document in accordance with regions that are allocated and that reflect said structure of said document layout that is obtained by said layout structure analyzer, and

an intra-region contents determiner for determining which contents of said document are to be displayed inside each of said allocated regions that are determined by said region arrangement determiner.

2. An information processing system according to

claim 1

, wherein said layout structure analyzer of said display means detects the type of delimiter used in each portion of said document for determining said layout, and employs the portions of said document as nodes for generating, as said structure of said layout for said document, a tree structure wherein the strength of said delimiters are hierarchically recorded.

3. An information processing system according to

claim 2

, wherein said region arrangement determiner ascertains, as assigned regions for dividing a page in order to display it, regions that satisfy a predetermined rule concerning said layout of said document structure and that preserve portions, corresponding to each of said nodes in said tree structure, that are large enough to display at least one part of the contents of said document using characters that match a desired display condition.

4. An information processing system according to

claim 3

, wherein said intra-region contents determiner designates a priority order for control information for controlling the style of a document, and in accordance with said priority order, determines for each portion of said document, the contents that are to be displayed in a corresponding assigned region.

5. An information processing system according to

claim 1

, further comprising:

detailed contents display means for displaying, separately from the contents selected by said intra-region contents determiner, the contents of a portion that corresponds to the location of an assigned region that is determined by said region arrangement determiner of said display control means.

6. An information processing system according to

claim 1

, further comprising:

detailed contents reading means for using speech synthesis to output the contents of said portions of said document corresponding to said locations in said assigned regions that are determined by said region arrangement determiner of said display control means.

7. An information processing system for displaying a document, which has a predetermined layout, wherein the structure of the layout for said document is extracted as a combination of several areas;

wherein the size of the characters in the font used in said area is increased while the sizes and the locations of said areas are substantially preserved; and

wherein said characters included in said areas are selectively displayed in accordance with a predetermined condition.

8. A proxy server, which is located between a web server and a client terminal and which performs a predetermined process for a web page received from said web server, and transmits the resultant web page to said client terminal, comprising:

a layout structure analyzer for analyzing the structure of the layout for said web page received from said web server;

a region arrangement determiner for dividing said web page into regions that are allocated to reflect said structure of said web page layout that is obtained by said layout structure analyzer, when contents of said web page are displayed under a desired display condition,; and

an intra-region contents determiner for determining the contents of said document to be displayed inside each of said allocated regions that are determined by said region arrangement determiner.

9. An proxy server according to

claim 8

, wherein said layout structure analyzer defines the level of a delimiter for style information that is used to display said web page using a browser, and defines the layout of said web page, detects said level of said delimiter in said style information that is written in said web page received from said web server, regards, as nodes, the individual portions of said web page that are separated in accordance with said style information, and generates, as a structure for said web page layout, a tree structure with which said level of said delimiter for each of said nodes is reflected hierarchically.

10. A web page display control method for controlling the display of a web page using a browser, said method comprising:

a web page layout structure analyzation step of analyzing the structure of the layout for said web page;

a web page division step of, when the contents of said web page are displayed under a desired display condition, dividing said web page into regions that are allocated to reflect said structure of said layout of said web page that is obtained at said web page layout structure analyzation step;

a web page contents determination step of determining the contents of said web page that are to be displayed inside each of said allocated regions determined at said web page division step; and

a web page contents display step of arranging, in a window for displaying said web page, said assigned regions determined at said web page division step, and displaying said contents of said web page that are determined at said web page contents determination step.

11. A web page display control method according to

claim 10

, wherein said web page layout structure analyzation step includes the steps of:

employing said style information written on said web page to extract a first tree structure wherein portions of said document that are separated in accordance with said style information are defined as nodes; and

ranking each of said nodes of said first tree structure based on the level of said delimiter that is predetermined for said style information, and generating a second tree structure wherein a node that corresponds to the style information having the highest level of delimiter is employed as a root node and the level of said delimiter is reflected.

12. A web page display control method according to

claim 10

, wherein, at said step of dividing said web page, beginning with said root node in said second tree structure, a process is performed to determine whether, under a desired display condition, at least a part of the contents of a portion specified by said node of said web page can be displayed at the location of said portion. When the contents can be displayed, the process is recursively performed with the child nodes of the node. When no contents can be displayed, said web page is divided by using an assigned region that is positioned at the same location and has the same size as the portion specified by said last node whose contents are displayed.

13. A web page display control method according to

claim 10

, further comprising the step of:

receiving a request designating an assigned region that is determined at said web page division step performed following said web page contents display step, and displaying the contents of a portion of said web page that said assigned region contains.

27. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing control of a display of a web page using a browser, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of

claim 10

.

28. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing control of a display of a web page using a browser, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of

claim 10

.

14. A web page display control method for using a browser to control the display of a web page, said method comprising the steps of:

extracting the structure of the layout for said web page as a combination of several areas;

increasing a font size of the characters included in said areas, while sizes and locations of said areas are substantially preserved; and

displaying as many as possible of said characters included in said areas in accordance with a condition defined for HTML tags.

29. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing a browser to control the display of a web page, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of

claim 14

.

30. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing a browser to control the display of a web page, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of

claim 14

.

15. A storage medium on which a computer-readable program is stored by input means provided for a computer, said computer readable program permitting said computer to perform:

a web page layout structure analyzation process for analyzing a structure of a layout for said web page;

a web page division process for dividing said web page into regions that are allocated to reflect said structure of said layout of said web page that is obtained in said web page layout structure analyzation process, when contents of said web page are displayed under a desired display condition,; and

a web page contents determination process for, in order to display said web page using a browser, determining the contents of said web page that are to be displayed inside each of said allocated regions determined in said web page division process.

16. A storage medium on which a computer-readable program is stored by input means provided for a computer, said computer readable program permitting said computer to perform:

a web page layout structure analyzation process for analyzing the structure of the layout for said web page;

a web page division process for dividing said web page into regions that are allocated to reflect said structure of said layout of said web page that is obtained in said web page layout structure analyzation process, when the contents of said web page are displayed under a desired display condition,;

a web page contents determination process for determining the contents of said web page that are to be displayed inside each of said allocated regions determined in said web page division process; and

a web page contents display process for arranging, in a window for displaying said web page, said assigned regions determined in said web page division process; and

a web page display process for displaying said contents of said web page that are determined in said web page contents determination process.

17. A program transmission apparatus comprising:

storage means for storing a program that permits a computer to perform

a web page layout structure analyzation process for analyzing a structure of a layout for said web page,

a web page division process for, when contents of said web page are displayed under a desired display condition, dividing said web page into regions that are allocated to reflect said structure of said layout of said web page that is obtained in said web page layout structure analyzation process, and

a web page contents determination process for determining the contents of said web page to be displayed inside each of said allocated regions determined in said web page division process, in order to display said web page using a browser,; and

transmission means for reading said program from said storage means and for transmitting said program.

18. An program transmission apparatus according to

claim 17

, wherein said storage means stores a web page that includes said program as an embedded script or object.

19. An information processing system comprising:

a display for displaying a document having a predetermined layout; and

a display controller for controlling a method used by the display to display the document.

20. An information processing system according to

claim 19

, wherein the display controller includes:

a layout structure analyzer for analyzing the structure of the layout of the document;

a region arrangement determiner for dividing a web page, under a desired display condition whereby the contents of the page are displayed, in order to display the document in accordance with regions that are allocated and that reflect the structure of the document layout that is obtained by the layout structure analyzer; and

an intra-region contents determiner for determining which contents of the document are to be displayed inside each of the regions that are allocated that are determined by the region arrangement determiner.

21. A web page display control method for controlling display of a web page using a browser, comprising:

analyzing a structure of a layout for said web page;

dividing said web page into regions that are allocated to reflect said structure of said layout of said web page obtained in the step of analyzing, when contents of said web page are displayed under a desired display condition;

determining the contents of said web page that are to be displayed inside each of said allocated regions determined in the step of dividing; and

arranging in a window for displaying said web page, said assigned regions determined in the step of dividing; and

displaying said contents of said web page determined in the step of determining.

22. A web page display control method according to

claim 21

, wherein the step of analyzing includes the steps of:

employing said style information written on said web page to extract a first tree structure wherein portions of said document that are separated in accordance with said style information are defined as nodes; and

ranking each of said nodes of said first tree structure based on the level of said delimiter that is predetermined for said style information, and generating a second tree structure wherein a node that corresponds to the style information having the highest level of delimiter is employed as a root node and the level of said delimiter is reflected.

23. A web page display control method according to

claim 21

, further comprising the step of:

receiving a request designating an assigned region determined in the step of dividing performed following the step of displaying, and displaying contents of a portion of said web page included in said assigned region.

24. An information processing method for displaying a document which has a predetermined layout, comprising:

extracting a structure of the layout for said document as a combination of several areas;

increasing a size of characters in a font used in said area while preserving sizes and locations of said areas; and

selectively displaying said characters included in said areas in accordance with a predetermined condition.

25. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing display of a document which has a predetermined layout, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of

claim 24

.

26. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing display of a document which has a predetermined layout, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of

claim 24

.