METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT FOR PAGINATING AND PREVIEWING XHTML/HTML FORMATTED INFORMATION CONTENT

• US 20090150769A1
• Filed: 11/12/2008
• Published: 06/11/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Documill Oy
• Original Assignee: Documill Oy
• Inventors: Laakso, Terho, Hanninen, Rami, Konnola, Mika, Nummisalo, Pasi
• Granted Patent: US 9,135,341 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/251
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for paginating and previewing essentially continuously-flowing non-paginated search results, such as XHTML/HTML formatted information content. The method includes at least: entering a search query; sending the query to a search engine; and receiving a search result having a list of data files matching to the search query. The method comprises at least: paginating the essentially continuously-flowing content of the data files retrieved; rendering preview pages from the data files; selecting the preview pages to be previewed; and previewing the matching preview pages associated with the data files retrieved.

Claims

1. Method for paginating and previewing essentially continuously-flowing non-paginated search results, such as an XHTML/HTML formatted information content, the method including at least:

entering a search query;

sending the query to a search engine; and

receiving a search result having a list of data files matching to the search query, the method comprising at least;

paginating the essentially continuously-flowing content of the data files retrieved;

rendering preview pages from the data files;

selecting the preview pages to be previewed; and

previewing the matching preview pages associated with the data files retrieved.

2. Method of claim 1, wherein the data file content is artificially paginated based on the system rules, user configuration and operating environment preferences.

3. Method of claim 1, wherein the artificially paginated and rendered data file preview pages are indexed for the content filtering (560), and wherein only those preview pages that match to the search query according the results of the content filtering (560) are selected to be previewed.

4. Method of claim 1, wherein the data file preview pages are rendered to HTML and image files, or vector files, and the page preview is compiled from a layered presentation of HTML content and image content associated to the corresponding area of the original data file;

or alternatively, the preview page content may be compiled from a vector file.

5. Method of claim 1, wherein in the rendering process at least one or more image files are created from each artificially paginated data file preview pages.

6. Method of claim 1, wherein the matching HTML files and associated image files, or matching vector files are selected for the data file preview, and the search query keyword(s) or phrases are highlighted in the matching HTML files or in the matching vector files.

7. Method of claim 1, wherein the search result area is reserved to display the preview pages associated to the data file.

8. Method of claim 1, wherein the data file preview pages are generated in an m by n matrix format (630), and a user selectable zoom-in to the data file preview pages is provided within the matrix format (630).

9. Method of claim 1, wherein the data file preview pages are displayed in connection with the data file information (610, 620) provided by the search engine (220).

10. Method of claim 1, wherein the m by n matrix preview pages are populated essentially immediately when preview data becomes partially available.

11. Method of claim 1, wherein the data file preview pages that are not currently displayed are pre-loaded in the memory of the preview engine (230) for later viewing.

12. Method of claim 1, wherein one or multiple page previews of each data file containing matching keyword(s) is shown to the user.

13. Arrangement for paginating and previewing essentially continuously-flowing non-paginated search results, such as an XHTML/HTML formatted information content, the arrangement having at least:

one or more clients (210) with a user interface;

a connection (260) to facilitate a connection between the clients (210) and at least one search engine (220); and

a search result area for displaying search results containing at least one or more data file hits provided by the search engine (220), wherein the arrangement comprising at least a preview means (230) for generating artificially paginated preview pages from the essentially continuously-flowing content of the data files for the user interface.

14. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein the a preview means (230) act as a preview engine that has at least a user interface manager (270), connectors (275), a content converter (280), a page indexer (285), and a cache manager (295).

15. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein in connection with the preview engine (230) the content converter (280) has at least paginating means for artificially paginating data files content and rendering page previews from the data files.

16. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein the connectors (275) are equipped to connect the preview engine (230) to the search engine (220) and to content servers (240), and the connectors (275) have at least means for sending a user search query to the search engine (220), for receiving search result lists from the search engine (220) and for downloading the data files from the content servers (240) to the preview engine (230).

17. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein the data file is a static file stored at the content server (240).

18. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein the data file is a dynamic stream of data, which is generated by the content server (240) when requested.

19. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein the cache manager (295) has at least means for storing and retrieving folder data, and data files preview pages with associated meta-data into a storage (250);

and the page indexer (285) has at least means for indexing the data file preview pages for filtering purposes, and means for searching and selecting the matching pages from the data files.

20. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein the arrangement has at least a search result list area for displaying a list of search results containing at least one or more data file hits provided by the search engine (220), and the arrangement has at least means for reserving a search result area to display preview pages associated to the data file, and for generating the data file preview pages in an m by n matrix format (630).

21. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein the arrangement has means for displaying the data file preview pages in connection with the data file information provided by the search engine (220), and that the data file has a display area to present preview pages in m by n matrix (630).

22. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein the search result display area comprises a button, link or area (635) adapted to be clicked by a user for additional preview pages.

23. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein the output screen created by the preview engine (230) comprises navigation buttons, links or areas adapted for a user to navigate backward and forward through preview pages (680) stored in the memory, and that the preview engine (230) has means for including one or more buttons adapted to be used to navigate between the search result list provided by the preview engine (230).

24. Arrangement of claim 13, wherein the preview pages (645) in the matrix in new output screen are user selectable for zoom-in pages (640).