METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ABSTRACTING INTERNETCONTENT

• US 20080092056A1
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: PEARSON, LARRY B., WALTER, EDWARD
• Granted Patent: US 8,316,307 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/744
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9562 Bookmark management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus

Abstract

A method and apparatus for abstracting Internet content is disclosed. An apparatus that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a terminal device having a User Interface (UI) element that links a Graphical User Interface (GUI) element to each Internet resource identifier (IRI) of one or more subject matters of interest defined in a profile by an end user, and presents said one or more GUI elements in a GUI window without association to an Internet browser. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium in a terminal device, comprising computer instructions for:

establishing a profile of one or more subject matters of interest each associated with a corresponding Internet resource identifier (IRI); and

linking a Graphical User Interface (GUI) element to each IRI of the one or more subject matters of interest; and

presenting the one or more GUI elements in a GUI window without association to an Internet browser.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for presenting the one or more GUI elements for selection by an end user of the terminal device, wherein one or more of the one or more GUI elements comprises descriptive imaging.

3. The storage medium of claim 1, comprising computer instructions for establishing in the profile one or more alert options triggered by one or more event signals associated with the one or more subject matters of interest, wherein the one or more event signals are sourced by a third party source.

4. The storage medium of claim 3, wherein the one or more alert options comprise at least one among computer instructions for asserting a first alert signal at the terminal device, transmitting a second alert signal to a communication device, and transmitting a third alert signal to multimedia device.

5. The storage medium of claim 4, wherein the first alert signal performs at least one among a group of tasks, and wherein the group of tasks comprise computer instructions for modifying a GUI element corresponding to an alert option associated with the first alert signal, asserting an audible alert, and asserting a visual alert.

6. The storage medium of claim 4, wherein the multimedia device comprises an IP-TV device, wherein the communication device comprises one among a pager, a wireline phone, a wireless phone, and a computing device, and wherein the second alert signal corresponds to at least one among a page, a Short Message Service (SMS) message, an email, and a voice message.

7. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more subject matters of interest correspond to at least one among a group of subject matters comprising sports, news, weather, finances, business, health, entertainment, education, politics, law, science, and technology, and wherein the IRI comprises at least one among a domain name, the domain name and a corresponding port number, an IP address, and the IP address and a corresponding port number.

8. The storage medium of claim 3, comprising computer instructions for:

presenting an end user of the terminal device the profile with a plurality of subject matters of interest without access to corresponding predefined IRIs; and

establishing the profile of the one or more subject matters of interest in response to a selection made by the end user from the plurality of subject matters of interest.

9. The storage medium of claim 8, comprising computer instructions for:

presenting a location field with the profile;

identifying location data supplied by the end user in the location field; and

selecting at least one among the plurality of subject matters of interest and the one or more alert options according to the location data supplied by the end user.

10. A terminal device, comprising a User Interface (UI) element that links a Graphical User Interface (GUI) element to each Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) of one or more subject matters of interest defined in a profile by an end user, and presents said one or more GUI elements in a GUI window without association to an Internet browser.

11. The terminal device of claim 10, wherein the UI element establishes in the profile one or more alert options triggered by one or more events associated with the one or more subject matters of interest, and wherein the one or more alert options comprise at least one among an assertion of a first alert signal at the terminal device, a transmission of a second alert signal to a communication device, and a transmission of a third alert signal to multimedia device.

12. The terminal device of claim 11, wherein the first alert signal performs at least one among a group of tasks comprising modifying a GUI element corresponding to an alert option associated with the first alert signal, asserting an audible alert, and asserting a visual alert.

13. The terminal device of claim 11, wherein the multimedia device comprises an IP-TV device, wherein the communication device comprises one among a pager, a wireline phone, a wireless phone, and a computing device, and wherein the second alert signal corresponds to at least one among a page, a Short Message Service (SMS) message, an email, and a voice message.

14. The terminal device of claim 10, wherein the one or more subject matters of interest correspond to at least one among a group of subject matters comprising sports, news, weather, finances, business, health, entertainment, education, politics, law, science, and technology.

15. The terminal device of claim 10, wherein the UI element presents an end user of the terminal device the profile with a plurality of subject matters of interest without access to corresponding predefined URIs, and establishes the profile of the one or more subject matters of interest in response to a selection made by the end user from the plurality of subject matters of interest.

16. The terminal device of claim 10, wherein the UI element presents a location field with the profile, identifies location data supplied by the end user in the location field, and selects the plurality of subject matters of interest according to the location data supplied by the end user.

17. A method in a terminal device, comprising:

presenting an end user of the terminal device a profile with a plurality of subject matters of interest without access to corresponding predefined Uniform Resource Locators (URLs);

establishing in the profile one or more subject matters of interest selected by the end user from the plurality of subject matters of interest;

linking a Graphical User Interface (GUI) element to each predefined URL of the one or more subject matters of interest selected; and

presenting said one or more GUI elements in a GUI window without association to an Internet browser.

18. The method of claim 17, comprising establishing in the profile one or more alert options triggered by one or more events associated with the one or more subject matters of interest.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more alert options comprise at least one among asserting a first alert signal at the terminal device, transmitting a second alert signal to a communication device, and transmitting a third alert signal to multimedia device.

20. The method of claim 18, comprising:

presenting through the one or more GUI elements a portion of Internet content associated with the corresponding URL of said GUI elements; and

presenting a GUI window in response to a selection of the one or more GUI elements with full access to the Internet content associated with the URL of the selected GUI element.