Method and system for client-less viewing of scalable documents

• US 20020194302A1
• Filed: 07/02/2002
• Published: 12/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ROXIO Incorporated (MelodyVR Group Plc)
• Inventors: Blumberg, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 6,874,131 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions

Abstract

A method and system for viewing a document containing at least one page and at least one image, the document being located on a server computer, including sending by a client computer a page display request to the server computer creating by the server computer a layout page containing a reference to stored image data, transmitting the layout page from the server computer to the client computer, sending an image data to a remote computer according to the reference to stored image data, and transmitting requested image data from the remote computer to the client computer in response to the image data request.

Claims

1. A method for viewing a document containing at least one page and at least one image, the document being located on a server computer, comprising the steps of:

sending by a client computer a page display request to the server computer;

creating by the server computer a layout page containing a reference to stored image data;

transmitting the layout page from the server computer to the client computer;

sending an image data request to a remote computer according to the reference to stored image data; and

transmitting requested image data from the remote computer to the client computer in response to the image data request.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the document is a PDF document.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the reference to stored image data is a URL.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the reference to stored image data contains a command specifying a rectangular portion of a raster image and a display width and height.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the command specifying a rectangular portion of a raster image and a display width and height is a CVT command from an Internet Imaging Protocol.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one image is a tiled image.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one image is a multi-resolution image.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the at least one image is a FLASHPIX image.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one image is a JPEG image.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one image is a TIFF image.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the layout page specifies the positioning of the requested image data.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the layout page is an HTML page.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the layout page also contains text characters.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein each of the text characters is associated with a corresponding font.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the layout page specifies the positioning of the text characters.

16. The method of claim 1 and also including the step of displaying the layout page and the requested image data.

17. The method of claim 1 and also including the step of printing the layout page and the requested image data.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote computer is the server computer.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the remote computer is distinct from the server computer.

20. The method of claim 1 and also including the step of processing by the remote computer the stored image data to produce the requested image data.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the stored image data contains image tiles, and said processing step includes:

fetching appropriate image tiles from the stored image data;

combining the appropriate image tiles into a single combined image; and

converting the combined image into a specified image format.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the specified image format is the JPEG format.

23. The method of claim 21 and also including the steps of:

decompressing the appropriate image tiles; and

compressing the combined image.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the document is a PDF document.

26. The system of claim 24 wherein the reference to stored image data is a URL.

27. The system of claim 24 wherein the reference to stored image data contains a command specifying a rectangular portion of a raster image and a display width and height.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the command specifying a rectangular portion of a raster image and a display width and height is a CVT command from an Internet Imaging Protocol.

29. The system of claim 24 wherein the at least one image is a tiled image.

30. The system of claim 24 wherein the at least one image is a multi-resolution image.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the at least one image is a FLASHPIX image.

32. The system of claim 24 wherein the at least one image is a JPEG image.

33. The system of claim 24 wherein the at least one image is a TIFF image.

34. The system of claim 24 wherein the layout page specifies the positioning of the requested image data.

35. The system of claim 24 wherein the layout page is an HTML page.

36. The system of claim 24 wherein the layout page also contains text characters.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein each of the text characters is associated with a corresponding font.

38. The system of claim 36 wherein the layout page specifies the positioning of the text characters.

39. The system of claim 24 and also including a video monitor displaying the layout page and the requested image data.

40. The system of claim 24 and also including a printer printing the layout page and the requested image data.

41. The system of claim 24 wherein the remote computer is the server computer.

42. The system of claim 24 wherein the remote computer is distinct from the server computer.

43. The system of claim 24 and also including a processor within the remote computer processing the stored image data to produce the requested image data.

44. The system of claim 43 wherein the stored image data contains image tiles, and said processor includes:

a data access unit fetching appropriate image tiles from the stored image data;

a combiner combining the appropriate image tiles into a single combined image; and

a formatter converting the combined image into a specified image format.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein the specified image format is the JPEG format.

46. The system of claim 44 and wherein said processor also includes:

a decompressor decompressing the appropriate image tiles; and

a compressor compressing the combined image.

48. The scalable document of claim 47 wherein the reference to stored image data is a URL.

49. The scalable document of claim 47 wherein the command for processing the stored image data specifies a rectangular portion of a raster image and a display width and height.

50. The scalable document of claim 49 wherein the command for processing the stored image data is a CVT command from an Internet Imaging Protocol.

51. The scalable document of claim 47 wherein the at least one image is a tiled image.

52. The scalable document of claim 47 wherein the at least one image is a multi-resolution image.

53. The scalable document of claim 52 wherein the at least one image is a FLASHPIX image.

54. The scalable document of claim 47 wherein the at least one image is a JPEG image.

55. The scalable document of claim 47 wherein the at least one image is a TIFF image.

56. The scalable document of claim 47 wherein the layout page specifies the positioning of the requested image data.

57. The scalable document of claim 47 wherein the layout page is an HTML page.

58. The scalable document of claim 47 wherein the layout page also contains text characters.

59. The scalable document of claim 58 wherein each of the text characters is associated with a corresponding font.

60. The scalable document of claim 58 wherein the layout page specifies the positioning of the text characters.

24. A system for viewing a document containing at least one page and at least one image, the document being located on a server computer, comprising:

a client computer transmitter sending a page display request to the server computer and sending an image data request to a remote computer according to a reference to stored image data;

a layout page producer within the server computer creating a layout page containing the reference to stored image data;

a server computer transmitter transmitting the layout page to the client computer; and

a remote computer transmitter transmitting requested image data to the client computer in response to the image data request.

47. A scalable document comprising:

at least one layout page; and

at least one reference to stored image data, said at least one reference including at least one command for processing the stored image data.

61. A method for converting a document containing at least one image into a scalable document, comprising:

extracting at least one image from the document;

storing the at least one image as stored image data; and

replacing the at least one image by at least one reference to stored image data, the at least one reference containing at least one command for processing the stored image data.

62. The method of claim 61 wherein the document is a PDF document.

63. The method of claim 61 wherein the stored image data is tiled image data.

64. The method of claim 61 wherein the stored image data is multi-resolution image data.

65. The method of claim 64 wherein the stored image data is FLASHPIX image data.

66. The method of claim 61 wherein the stored image data is JPEG image data.

67. The method of claim 61 wherein the stored image data is a TIFF image data.

68. The method of claim 61 wherein the reference to the stored image data is a URL.

69. The method of claim 61 wherein the command for processing the stored image data specifies a rectangular portion of a raster image and a display width and height.

70. The method of claim 69 wherein the command for processing the stored image data is a CVT command from an Internet Imaging Protocol.

71. A system for converting a document containing at least one image into a scalable document, comprising:

an object extractor extracting at least one image from the document;

a storage device for storing the at least one image as stored image data; and

a reference inserter replacing the at least one image by at least one reference to the stored image data, the at least one reference containing at least one command for processing the stored image data.

72. The system of claim 71 wherein the document is a PDF document.

73. The system of claim 71 wherein the stored image data is tiled image data.

74. The system of claim 71 wherein the stored image data is multi-resolution image data.

75. The system of claim 74 wherein the stored image data is FLASHPIX image data.

76. The system of claim 71 wherein the stored image data is JPEG image data.

77. The system of claim 71 wherein the stored image data is a TIFF image data.

78. The system of claim 71 wherein the reference to the stored image data is a URL.

79. The system of claim 71 wherein the command for processing the stored image data specifies a rectangular portion of a raster image and a display width and height.

80. The system of claim 79 wherein the command for processing the stored image data is a CVT command from an Internet Imaging Protocol.

81. A method for converting a scalable document into a standard document using at least one reference to stored image data, the scalable document containing at least one layout page, and the at least one reference including at least one command for processing the stored image data, comprising:

processing the stored image data in accordance with the at least one command, producing at least one image; and

positioning the at least one image within the scalable document according to positioning instructions within the layout page.

82. The method of claim 81 and also including the step of converting the scalable document into a format of the standard document, following said positioning step.

83. The method of claim 81 wherein the standard document is a PDF document.

84. The method of claim 81 wherein said processing extracts a specified rectangular portion of an image at a specified width and height.

85. The method of claim 81 and also including the step of printing the standard document.

86. The method of claim 81 and also including the step of saving the standard document on a computer.

87. A system for converting a scalable document into a standard document using at least one reference to stored image data, the scalable document containing at least one layout page, and the at least one reference including at least one command for processing the stored image data, comprising:

an image processor processing the stored image data in accordance with the at least one command, producing at least one image; and

an image positioner positioning the at least one image within the scalable document according to positioning instructions within the layout page.

88. The system of claim 87 and also including a document format converter converting the scalable document into a format of the standard document.

89. The system of claim 87 wherein the standard document is a PDF document.

90. The system of claim 87 wherein said image processor extracts a specified rectangular portion of an image at a specified width and height.

91. The system of claim 87 and also including a printer for printing the standard document.

92. The system of claim 87 and also including a computer for saving the standard document.