Management of links to data embedded in blocks of data

• US 20020133633A1
• Filed: 03/15/2001
• Published: 09/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Kumar, Arvind
• Granted Patent: US 6,954,934 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations

Abstract

Management of links, such as URLs or other link formats, that have been embedded within blocks of data, such as data received by an E-mail application program, file transfer program, or other data transfer environment. When a block of data is received, an agent or other construct examines the block of data to identify links within the block of data. Meta-data associated with the link is extracted, and the link and associated meta-data is stored in a collective. The collective may be displayed and organized with a viewer. The viewer may be integral to an application program, such as an E-mail application program, or it may integral to an operating system, or it may be a standalone application program.

Claims

1. A method for an application program communicatively coupled to a network to process Uniform Resource Locators (URL), comprising:

receiving a block of data;

executing an agent to identify a URL within the block of data;

extracting meta-data associated with the URL describing the block of data;

storing the URL and said extracted meta-data in a collective; and

organizing the collective.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

annotating said stored URL with annotations.

3. The method of claim 2, the block of data comprising fields, the method further comprising:

displaying a user interface;

displaying within the user interface said field identifiers, and corresponding selectable regions, wherein selection thereof for a field causes storage of the field within the collective; and

displaying within the user interface an annotation region for entering said annotations.

4. The method of claim 1, the block of data comprising fields, the method further comprising:

displaying a user interface; and

displaying within the user interface said field identifiers, and corresponding selectable regions, wherein selection thereof for a field causes storage of the field within the collective.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said extracting is performed with respect to an extraction policy.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the URL comprises a machine reference to a resource location path; and

wherein said organizing is based at least in part on the contents of said path.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, wherein said organizing is based at least in part on a characteristic of the URL, said characteristic being a selected one of:

a domain, a machine identifier, and a resource location path.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said organizing is based at least in part on said meta-data.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

wherein the block of data comprises an Electronic Mail (E-mail) message; and

wherein said meta-data comprises selected ones of;

a sender of the block of data, a subject of the block of data, a sending time or date for the block of data, a recipient of the block of data, a storage destination for the block of data, and user defined data fields associated with the block of data.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said meta-data comprises:

a sender of the block of data, a subject of the block of data, a sending time or date for the block of data, a recipient of the block of data, a storage destination for the block of data, and user defined data fields associated with the block of data.

11. A method for a network application program to process a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), comprising:

receiving, with the application program, a block of data comprising an electronically distributable document;

identifying the URL within the block of data;

adding an entry to a collective, the entry including the URL and origin data corresponding to the URL;

retrieving content identified by the URL according to an applicable policy; and

storing said retrieved content within the collective.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said policy for retrieving content is a selected one of:

retrieve selected content when the application program operates on the block of data, retrieve selected content based at least in part on an expert system, and retrieve selected content based at least in part on pattern matching.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

preparing a list of the URLs within the block of data;

displaying an interface allowing selection of URL entries of the list; and

performing said retrieving content for a selected entry of the list.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the application program is an Electronic Mail (E-mail) program, and wherein the block of data is an E-mail message.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the E-mail program has definable rules operable on the block of data, the method further comprising:

providing a rule for processing the block of data according to said policy; and

assigning a processing mode to the rule.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

displaying a user-interface configured to display the URL, and allow selection thereof, wherein selection of the URL triggers said retrieving.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein said identifying the URL is performed with a system-wide program module operable on plural concurrently executing application programs.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the collective comprises a selected one of:

Microsoft Internet browser Favorites, and Netscape Internet browser bookmarks.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

executing the application program within an operating system providing offline storage for content retrievable over the network; and

configuring said offline storage to retrieve said content identified by the URL.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

executing the application program within an operating system providing offline storage for content retrievable over the network; and

configuring said offline storage so that said content identified by the URL is retrieved in accordance with said policy.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein the application program comprises a network proxy for filtering the block of data.

22. An apparatus, comprising a readable medium having instructions encoded thereon for execution by a processor, said instructions capable of directing the processor to perform:

receiving a block of data;

executing an agent to identify a URL within the block of data;

extracting meta-data associated with the URL describing the block of data;

storing the URL and said extracted meta-data in a collective; and

organizing the collective.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, said instructions further comprising instructions capable of directing the processor to perform:

annotating said stored URL with annotations.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, said instructions further comprising instructions capable of directing the processor to perform:

displaying a user interface;

displaying within the user interface said field identifiers, and corresponding selectable regions, wherein selection thereof for a field causes storage of the field within the collective; and

displaying within the user interface an annotation region for entering said annotations.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, said instructions further comprising instructions capable of directing the processor to perform:

displaying a user interface; and

displaying within the user interface said field identifiers, and corresponding selectable regions, wherein selection thereof for a field causes storage of the field within the collective.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, said instructions for said organizing comprising instructions capable of directing the processor to perform:

organizing based at least in part on a characteristic of the URL, said characteristic being a selected one of;

a domain, a machine identifier, and a resource location path.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, said instructions for said organizing comprising instructions capable of directing the processor to perform said organizing based at least in part on said meta-data, the apparatus further comprising:

wherein the block of data comprises an Electronic Mail (E-mail) message; and

wherein said meta-data comprises selected ones of;

a sender of the block of data, a subject of the block of data, a sending time or date for the block of data, a recipient of the block of data, a storage destination for the block of data, and user defined data fields associated with the block of data.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said instructions for said policy for retrieving content comprises instructions for a selected one of:

retrieving selected content when the application program operates on the block of data, retrieving selected content based at least in part on an expert system, and retrieving selected content based at least in part on pattern matching.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, said instructions further comprising instructions capable of directing the processor to perform:

preparing a list of the URLs within the block of data;

displaying an interface allowing selection of URL entries of the list; and

performing said retrieving content for a selected entry of the list.

31. The apparatus of claim 28, said instructions further comprising instructions capable of directing the processor to perform:

executing the application program within an operating system providing offline storage for content retrievable over the network; and

configuring said offline storage to retrieve said content identified by the URL.

32. The apparatus of claim 28, said instructions further comprising instructions capable of directing the processor to perform:

executing the application program within an operating system providing offline storage for content retrievable over the network; and

configuring said offline storage so that said content identified by the URL is retrieved in accordance with said policy.

28. An apparatus, comprising a readable medium having instructions encoded thereon for execution by a processor, said instructions capable of directing the processor to perform:

receiving, with the application program, a block of data comprising an electronically distributable document;

identifying the URL within the block of data;

adding an entry to a collective, the entry including the URL and origin data corresponding to the URL;

retrieving content identified by the URL according to an applicable policy; and

storing said retrieved content within the collective.

33. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a block of data;

means for executing an agent to identify a URL within the block of data;

means for extracting meta-data associated with the URL describing the block of data;

means for storing the URL and said extracted meta-data in a collective; and

means for organizing the collective.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

means for annotating said stored URL with annotations;

means for displaying a user interface;

means for displaying within the user interface said field identifiers, and corresponding selectable regions, wherein selection thereof for a field causes storage of the field within the collective; and

means for displaying within the user interface an annotation region for entering said annotations.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising:

means for displaying a user interface; and

means for displaying within the user interface said field identifiers, and corresponding selectable regions, wherein selection thereof for a field causes storage of the field within the collective.

36. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

means for organizing based at least in part on a characteristic of the URL, said characteristic being a selected one of;

a domain, a machine identifier, and a resource location path.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising:

means for retrieving selected content when the application program operates on the block of data, retrieving selected content based at least in part on an expert system, and retrieving selected content based at least in part on pattern matching.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, further comprising:

means for preparing a list of the URLs within the block of data;

means for displaying an interface allowing selection of URL entries of the list; and

means for performing said retrieving content for a selected entry of the list.

40. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

means for executing the application program within an operating system providing offline storage for content retrievable over the network; and

means for configuring said offline storage to retrieve said content identified by the URL.

41. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

means for executing the application program within an operating system providing offline storage for content retrievable over the network; and

means for configuring said offline storage so that said content identified by the URL is retrieved in accordance with said policy.

37. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving, with the application program, a block of data comprising an electronically distributable document;

means for identifying the URL within the block of data;

means for adding an entry to a collective, the entry including the URL and origin data corresponding to the URL;

means for retrieving content identified by the URL according to an applicable policy; and

means for storing said retrieved content within the collective.