Techniques for approximating the visual layout of a web page and determining the portion of the page containing the significant content
First Claim
1. A method comprising performing a machine-executed operation involving instructions for approximating the visual layout of a Web page, wherein the machine-executed operation is at least one of:
- A) sending said instructions over transmission media;
B) receiving said instructions over transmission media;
C) storing said instructions onto a machine-readable storage medium; and
D) executing the instructions;
wherein said instructions are instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of;
constructing an object tree according to a structure of elements within Web page code; and
approximating a visual layout of said Web page without rendering said Web page, wherein said approximating a visual layout comprises;
constraining the geometry of at least a subset of said elements based on geometric properties of corresponding container elements that contain said elements in said subset,computing an approximate width of each of said elements in said subset, wherein said approximate width of an element may be different than a width for said element as specified in said Web page,positioning each of said elements in said subset in a corresponding constraining container by logically placing the element at the current position of a locator which is advanced for each subsequent element, andannotating said object tree in association with each of said elements in said subset, with corresponding coordinates of the element based on the position of said locator corresponding to the element.
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Accused Products
Abstract
To approximate a visual layout of a web page without rendering the page, an object tree representing elements within the page is recursively traversed to determine bounds for the width of the elements, resulting in lower bounds induced for non-leaf nodes by elements within these nodes and upper bounds induced by ancestors and siblings of nodes. For each element, the minimum required width (lower bound), the desired width were there no constraints, and the maximum available width (upper bound) based on constraints of parents are computed, and an approximate width is derived therefrom. A positioning process positions each element within its corresponding parent container by advancing a cursor according to the elements'"'"' approximate width and appropriate constraints. The element that contains the most meaningful content is determined based on the amount of weighted content of elements and their position within the page.
71 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method comprising performing a machine-executed operation involving instructions for approximating the visual layout of a Web page, wherein the machine-executed operation is at least one of:
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A) sending said instructions over transmission media; B) receiving said instructions over transmission media; C) storing said instructions onto a machine-readable storage medium; and D) executing the instructions; wherein said instructions are instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of; constructing an object tree according to a structure of elements within Web page code; and approximating a visual layout of said Web page without rendering said Web page, wherein said approximating a visual layout comprises; constraining the geometry of at least a subset of said elements based on geometric properties of corresponding container elements that contain said elements in said subset, computing an approximate width of each of said elements in said subset, wherein said approximate width of an element may be different than a width for said element as specified in said Web page, positioning each of said elements in said subset in a corresponding constraining container by logically placing the element at the current position of a locator which is advanced for each subsequent element, and annotating said object tree in association with each of said elements in said subset, with corresponding coordinates of the element based on the position of said locator corresponding to the element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification