METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING A LINK IN AN ELECTRONIC FILE BEING PRESENTED TO A USER

• US 20110302161A1
• Filed: 08/22/2011
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inventor Holdings LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Original Assignee: Walker Digital LLC (Walker Innovation Inc. (f/k/a Patent Properties, Inc.))
• Inventors: Walker, Jay S., Tedesco, Daniel E., Packes, John M., Tulley, Stephen C., Bemer, Kieth, Alderucci, Dean P., Kessman, Marc D., Jorasch, James A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,396,476 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/134 Distributed indices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/748 Hypervideo linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object in the context of video distribution systems H04N21/858
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/944 Business related

Abstract

A method for providing a link in an electronic file being presented to a user which includes defining a customized viewpoint for the user. The viewpoint includes a preference for the user that provides an association between a data pattern and a computer network resource. The method also includes generating a request for content, receiving an electronic file in response to the request, and evaluating the electronic file to recognize a match between at least one portion of the electronic file and the data pattern. Upon recognizing a match, the electronic file is modified to include a link to the computer network resource associated with the matching data pattern, and the modified electronic file is presented to the user. Thus, the link included in the electronic file presented to the user is customized for the user, and different users who retrieve the same content can be provided with links to different computer network resources depending on their respective viewpoints.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing, in a memory of a user computer, a plurality of preferences,

wherein each preference provides an association between one or more text patterns and one URL;

allowing a user to select, using an input device, a preference from the plurality of preferences;

receiving a request from a user to retrieve markup language-based electronic content;

generating a request for content from a Web server;

in response to the request for content, receiving a markup language-based electronic file, in which the electronic file comprises a user-viewable text portion;

determining if a portion of the user-viewable text portion matches any of the text patterns of the plurality of preferences;

if it is determined that a portion of the user-viewable text portion matches a text pattern,

modifying the electronic file to include an HTML hyperlink to the URL that is associated with the matched text pattern,

in which the hyperlink is included substantially at the location of the matched portion of the user-viewable text portion, and

presenting the modified electronic file to the user so that the hyperlink appears in place of the matched portion of the user-viewable text portion.