System and method for defining specifications for outputting content in multiple formats

• US 20050132284A1
• Filed: 05/05/2004
• Published: 06/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arbortext, Inc. (PTC Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Arbortext, Inc. (PTC Inc.)
• Inventors: White, David L., Pierce, Kenneth D., Brow, Samuel S., Svechota, Joyce M., Lloyd, John J., Lambert, Robert M., Grosso, Paul B., Bartlett, Peter G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,484,553 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/236
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets

Abstract

A system and method for defining specifications for outputting content to multiple formats. More specifically, a system and method for creating a single multi-purpose stylesheet file from a single user interface, the single multi-purpose stylesheet being capable of designing multiple output media formats. For example, the multi-purpose stylesheet may convert input XML content to HTML, PDF, PostScript, WML, or other output formats. The method includes creating or modifying a multipurpose stylesheet containing formatting rules corresponding to various properties of different output media formats. The user can configure the multi-purpose stylesheet by selecting different formatting properties for different output media formats.

Claims

1. A single stylesheet defining specifications for outputting content in multiple outputs, comprising:

instructions within the single stylesheet identifying information to be output; and

instructions within the single stylesheet defining at least one format for at least a portion of the information for each of the multiple outputs, whereby, when the information is output in a particular format, the defined format for the selected output will be applied.

2. The stylesheet of claim 1, wherein the instructions within the stylesheet identifying information to be output comprise instructions identifying elements of an input file to be output.

3. The stylesheet of claim 1, further comprising instructions to identify a location of the information identified to be output.

4. The stylesheet of claim 2, further comprising instructions to identify type of element.

5. The stylesheet of claim 4, wherein the instructions include tags to identify the type of element.

6. The stylesheet of claim 1, wherein the instructions that define a format for at least a portion of the identified information to be output include at least one style archetype.

7. The stylesheet of claim 1, wherein the instructions that define a format for at least a portion of the identified information to be output include defining a font for the identified information for each of the multiple outputs in which the information may be output.

8. The stylesheet of claim 1, wherein the instructions that define a format for at least a portion of the identified information to be output include defining indent properties for the identified information for each of the multiple outputs in which the information may be output.

9. The stylesheet of claim 1, wherein the instructions that define a format for at least a portion of the identified information to be output include defining spacing properties for the identified information for each of the multiple outputs in which the information may be output.

10. The stylesheet of claim 1, wherein the instructions that define a format for at least a portion of the identified information to be output include defining break properties for the identified information for each of the multiple outputs in which the information may be output.

11. The stylesheet of claim 1, wherein the instructions that define a format for at least a portion of the identified information to be output include defining an addition of automatically generated text in conjunction with identified information for each of the multiple outputs in which the information may be output.

12. A computer program product comprising:

a computer useable medium and computer readable code embodied on said computer useable medium for creating one stylesheet for formatting information to be output in multiple formats, the computer readable code comprising;

computer readable program code devices configured to cause the computer to effect the receiving of the input file;

computer readable program code devices configured to cause the computer to determine at least one element within the input file;

computer readable program code devices configured to determine a formatting rule applicable to the at least one element;

computer readable program code devices configured to apply the formatting rule to the at least one element;

computer readable program code devices configured for storing the at least one element having the formatting rule applied thereto as the output file of the second file type.

13. A computer data signal embodied in a transmission medium, comprising:

a code segment including instructions for receiving an input file;

a code segment including instructions for determining at least one element within the input file;

a code segment including instructions for determining a formatting rule applicable to the at least one element, wherein a formatting rule is determined for each of at least two output formats;

a code segment including instructions for applying a appropriate formatting rule to the at least one element for outputting the at least two output formats;

a code segment including instructions for storing the at least one element having the formatting rule applied thereto as an output file of a second file type.

14. A computer data signal embodied in a transmission medium, comprising:

a code segment including instructions for receiving and reading an input file; and

a code segment including instructions for applying at least one formatting rule to at least one element within the input file for each of at least two output formats, resulting in a formatted element consistent with the formatting rule when output in one of the at least two output formats.

15. A method for outputting information in one of several output formats using a single stylesheet, the method comprising:

providing for determining an element that is to be output;

providing for determining a formatting rule applicable to the element for each of several output formats; and

providing for applying the formatting rule to the element consistent with the output format.

16. A method for outputting information in multiple formats using a single stylesheet, the method comprising:

determining an element to be output;

determining at least one formatting rule for each element based on the form of output;

applying the formatting rule consistent with the output format selected for the element.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining a formatting rule applicable to the element and applying the formatting rule to the element comprise determining a style archetype applicable to the element and applying the style archetype to the element.

18. A method for publishing information, comprising:

receiving information in an input file;

publishing the information in multi-channels using a single stylesheet;

wherein the stylesheet applies formatting rules to elements within the input file, the formatting rules being adapted for multi-channels.

19. A method for creating a stylesheet capable of outputting information in one of multiple output file types using a single stylesheet, the method comprising:

within a single stylesheet, identifying and tagging at least one element within the input file;

within a single stylesheet, associating a style with the at least one element; and

within a single stylesheet, selecting an output file type, wherein the style may vary according to the output file type selected.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the act of associating a style with the at least one element is done based on the location of the element within the input style.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the act of associating a style with the at least one element is done based on a default assignment policy.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the act of associating a style with the at least one element is done based on a user-specified assignment policy.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the style comprises at least one formatting rule.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one element appears in one or more contexts and wherein the act of associating a style with the at least one element comprises associating the style with one of the element contexts.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising applying a condition and associated formatting rule with at least one of the element contexts.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the condition comprises a set of attribute tests plus the associated formatting rule.

27. The method of claim 19, wherein the act of associating a style with the at least one element is done using a property set.

28. The method of claim 19, wherein the selected output file type is context-specific.

29. The method of claim 19, wherein the selected output file type is user-specific.

30. The method of claim 19, wherein the selected output file type is device-specific.

31. The method of claim 19, further including associating a baseline characteristic to at least one element prior to associating a style with the at least one element.

32. A system for outputting content to various output media formats, the system comprising:

means for identifying information to be output;

means for associating at least one formatting rule with the information to be output, wherein the means further comprises associating a formatting rule for the information to be output for outputting in multiple output forms.

33. The system of claim 32, further comprising means for enabling a user to write code for an output format.

34. The system of claims 33, further comprising means for saving the code.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the saved code may be managed and reused.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the saved code is part of a library of code that may be managed and reused.