SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ITEMISING WEB PAGES FOR DISPLAY ON A SCREEN

• US 20090119598A1
• Filed: 10/27/2008
• Published: 05/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cabot Communications Ltd. (Zorlu Holding AS)
• Original Assignee: Cabot Communications Ltd. (Zorlu Holding AS)
• Inventors: Oztaskent, Ant
• Granted Patent: US 8,762,854 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provides a method of and apparatus for itemising web pages for display on a screen in a system comprising a server connected to the internet the server having storage for format data in respect of one or more accessible websites, the method comprising: at a client requesting from the server format data for a requested website; upon receipt of the format data, accessing the website; and when the website has been accessed itemising locally the website in dependence on the format data.

Claims

1. A method of itemising web pages for display on a screen in a system comprising a server connected to the internet, the server having storage for format data in respect of one or more accessible websites, the method comprising:

at a client requesting from the server format data for a requested website;

upon receipt of the format data, accessing the website; and

when the website has been accessed itemising locally the website in dependence on the format data.

2. A method according to claim 1, comprising, prior to requesting the format data for the requested website, requesting from the server a website list of accessible websites in respect of which the server contains corresponding format data.

3. A method according to claim 1, comprising, at the client, displaying the website using the native graphic user interface of the client.

4. A method according to 2, comprising, at the client, displaying the website list using the native graphic user interface of the client.

5. A method according to claim 1, in which the accessed website is itemised locally to the client using an HTML itemiser.

6. A method according to claim 1, in which at least some of the accessible websites include video content, wherein the video content is displayed by the client using the native graphic user interface.

7. A method according to claim 1, in which the client is arranged in communication with a television display and the client is arranged to display the images of the retrieved internet content on the television display.

8. A method according to claim 1, comprising upon accessing the requested website, determining its class.

9. A method according to claim 8, in which if the class of the page is determined to be terminal, the content of the page is displayed.

10. A method according to claim 8, in which if the class of the page is determined to be directory, directory and terminal items if present are extracted for display.

11. A method according to claim 1, in which itemised items are displayed to a user as a list.

12. A system for itemising web pages for display, the system comprising:

a server for storing format data indicative of the format of one or more websites; and

,

one or more clients connectable to the server, at least one of the clients being arranged to request format data of one of the websites from the server,

wherein upon receipt of the request, the server is arranged to provide to the requesting client the format data indicative of the format of the respective website,

the client being arranged locally to access the website and use the format data to itemise content from the website for display.

13. A system according to claim 12, in which the one or more clients are set top boxes.

14. A system according to claim 12, wherein the client is arranged to display the website as part of the native user interface of the client.

15. A system according to claim 12, in which the server is an HTTP server.

16. A system according to claim 12, wherein the server includes storage having a list of websites accessible by the system, and being arranged to provide to a client, upon request, the list of accessible websites.

23. A server for use in a system according to claim 12, the server comprising:

storage for storing format data indicative of the format of one or more websites, the server being configured to provide to one or more clients upon request data indicative of the format of one or more websites.

24. A server according to claim 23, including storage for storing a list of websites in respect of which format data is stored.

17. A client for connection to the internet for the itemising of web pages for display, the client comprising:

a processor arranged, upon activation by a user, to request and to receive from a format server format details in respect of a requested website; and

memory for storage of the format details, the client being configured and arranged to access the website and, itemise locally the contents for display in dependence on the format details.

18. A client according to claim 19, comprising an HTML itemiser for itemising locally the received website.

19. A client according to claim 17, comprising an XML parser for parsing received XML documents.

20. A client according to claim 18, in which the HTML itemiser includes a scripting engine for interpreting commands and a regular expression engine for searching for textual patterns within received HTML code of a website.

21. A client according to claim 19, in which the client is embodied by one or more of a stand-alone Set Top Box dedicated for viewing web pages on a television, functionality embedded into a digital television receiver Set Top Box, a digital television recorder, a television receiver, or a personal computer.

22. A client according to claim 19, the client including a native graphic user interface and being configured and arranged to display itemised websites using the native graphic user interface.