Apparatus for and method of selectively retrieving information and enabling its subsequent display

• US 20020026462A1
• Filed: 07/12/2001
• Published: 02/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fourthwall Media Incorporated
• Original Assignee: BIAP Systems, Inc. (Fourthwall Media Incorporated)
• Inventors: Shotton, Charles T. Jr., Slothouber, Louis P., Dudar, M. Ellen
• Granted Patent: US 7,152,058 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/523
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A system for reliably retrieving information which may be in any one of several possible formats and for subsequent display of that information in any one of several possible formats. User-defined agents are used to retrieve target data based on a heuristic algorithm and to store the target data in a canonical form, ready for republication in whatever form best suits a particular application. The system is particularly well suited to obtaining information over the internet for display on a desktop system, but it is also well suited for applications having only limited display or computational capabilities.

Claims

1. Apparatus comprising:

retrieval means for retrieving a first set of data from a first predetermined data source, said first set of data being in any one of a plurality of possible formats;

analyzing means for analyzing said first set of data to select a second set of data included in said first set of data;

storing means for storing said second set of data in a data store in a predefined storage format, said storing means including means for formatting said second set of data in said storage format if the format of the first data set is different from said storage format; and

means for recalling said second set of data from said data store and for formatting said second set of data for display on a display device in a presentation format if said presentation format is different from said storage format.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said retrieval means, said analyzing means, said storing means and said means for recalling all reside and execute on a single computer device.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said display device is a television monitor and wherein said means for recalling is incorporated into a cable set-top box.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein said retrieval means, said analyzing means, and said storing means all reside and execute on a central computer which exchanges data with said set-top box via a cable connection.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first set of data includes data about a device state from a home gateway system.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5 wherein said retrieval means, said analyzing means, and said storing means all reside and execute on a computer which communicates with said home gateway system over the internet.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said display device is a screen on a web-enabled telephone and wherein said means for recalling is incorporated into said web-enabled telephone.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein said retrieval means, said analyzing means, and said storing means all reside and execute on a central computer which exchanges data with said web-enabled telephone via a cellular telephone network.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said display device is a screen on a PDA.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first predetermined data source includes status information for an external device, and wherein said first set of data includes said status information.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said analyzing means comprises:

first identifying means for identifying a first candidate for selection as said second set of data using a first method;

second identifying means for identifying a second candidate for selection as said second set of data using a second method different from said first method;

third identifying means for identifying a third candidate for selection as said second set of data using a third method different from said second method and said first method; and

selecting means, responsive to said first, second, and third identifying means, for selecting one of said first, second, and third candidates as said second set of data.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein said selecting means selects one of said first, second, and third candidates as said second set of data based on a first weighting assigned to said first identifying means, a second weighting assigned to said second identifying means, and a third weighting assigned to said third identifying means.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12 further comprising means, responsive to said selecting means, for altering said first weighting based on a degree of correspondence between said second set of data selected by said selecting means and said first candidate, for altering said second weighting based on a degree of correspondence between said second set of data selected by said selecting means and said second candidate, and for altering said third weighting based on a degree of correspondence between said second set of data selected by said selecting means and said third candidate.

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said first predetermined data source is an internet resource.

16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein said second predetermined data source is an enterprise intranet resource.

17. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein said display device is a computer monitor.

18. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein said display device is a television monitor and wherein said means for displaying is incorporated into a cable set-top box.

19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein said display device is a screen on a web-enabled telephone.

20. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 wherein said display device is a screen on a PDA.

21. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14 further comprising storing means for storing said first subset of data and said second subset of data in a data store in a predefined storage format, said storing means including means for formatting said first subset of data and said second subset of data in said storage format if the format of the first subset of data and said second subset of data is different from said storage format.

14. Apparatus comprising:

retrieval means for retrieving a first set of data from a first predetermined data source and a second set of data from a second predetermined data source, said first set of data and said second set of data each being in any one of several possible formats;

analyzing means for analyzing said first set of data to select a first subset of data included in said first set of data and for analyzing said second set of data to select a second subset of data included in said second set of data; and

means for displaying said first subset of data and said second subset of data on a display device, said means for displaying including means for reformatting said first subset of data and said second subset of data if necessary for display on said display device.

22. A method comprising the steps of:

retrieving a first set of data from a predetermined data source, said first set of data being in an arbitrary original format;

analyzing said first set of data to select a second set of data included in said first set of data;

storing said second set of data in a data store in a predefined storage format, including formatting said second set of data in said storage format if said original format is different from said storage format; and

retrieving said second set of data from said data store, including formatting said second set of data for presentation in a presentation format if said presentation format is different from said storage format.

23. A method of retrieving a subset of data from a data collection, said data collection having content which may vary over time, said method comprising the steps of:

assigning a first weighting factor to a first strategy for retrieving a subset of data from said data collection;

assigning a second weighting factor to a second strategy for retrieving a subset of data from said data collection;

assigning a third weighting factor to a third strategy for retrieving a subset of data from said data collection;

determining a first candidate subset of said data collection using said first strategy, a second candidate subset of said data collection using said second strategy, and a third candidate subset of said data collection using said third strategy;

selecting one of said first, second, and third candidate subsets as a result subset based on said first, second, and third weighting factors;

adjusting said first weighting factor based on whether said first candidate subset matches said result subset, said second weighting factor based on whether said second candidate subset matches said result subset, and said third weighting factor based on whether said third candidate subset