Customizable web portal

• US 20020116386A1
• Filed: 02/14/2002
• Published: 08/22/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: ABB Research Ltd. (ABB Ltd.)
• Inventors: Werner, Thomas, Fabri, Andreas
• Application Number:
  US10/073,947
• Publication Number:
  US 20020116386A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing

Abstract

A user accesses a computer network (4) from a user computer (3) through a personal portal located on a portal server (1). A set of information requests is used to build a composite web page (6) made of bits of information (61, 62, 63) gathered from various servers (51, 52, 53). The set of information requests is defined according to a user preference list (21), which is loaded from an external computer-based storage device (2) to the portal server.

The externally stored user preference list can be loaded and adapted by any portal connected to the computer network. Therefore, the user-defined sets of information requests will not have to be recustomized for different portals.

Claims

1. A method for presenting information (61, 62, 63) to a user accessing a computer-based server (1) with a user computer (3) through a network (4), comprising the step of:

providing a portal to the user, wherein the portal is a search tool on the server (1) containing an at least partially user-defined set of information requests used to gather the information (61, 62, 63) presented to the user,

wherein

a user preference list (21) is loaded from an external computer-based storage device (2) to the portal server (1), and

the set of information requests is defined according to the user preference list (21).

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of

requesting a user authentication by the portal server (1) prior to loading the user preference list (21).

3. The method of any of claims 1 or 2, further comprising the step of

requesting the address of the external storage device (2) by the portal server (1) prior to loading the user preference list (21).

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, further comprising the step of

providing the user with an interface on the user computer (3) for editing the user preference list (21), and

storing the edited user preference list (21) on the external storage device (2).

5. A computer-based server (1) configured to provide access to a user via a portal through which information (61, 62, 63) is presented to the user in composite format (6), said server (1) being configured to carry out a method as claimed in any of the preceding claims.

6. A computer-based storage device (2) configured to store user preference lists (21) to be used in a method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, said storage device being network-connected to at least one server (1) as claimed in claim 5 and to at least one user computer (3).

7. A computer program product directly loadable into the internal memory of a digital computer comprising code for performing a method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4.

8. A computer program product stored on a computer usable medium comprising computer readable program means for causing a computer to perform a method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4.