System for adding requested document cross references to a document by annotation proxy configured to merge and a directory generator and annotation server

• US 5,822,539 A
• Filed: 12/08/1995
• Issued: 10/13/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: van Hoff, Arthur A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chen, Anderson I.
• Application Number:
  US08/569,747
• Time in Patent Office: 1,040 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.09, 395/610
• US Class Current: 709/236
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

In a distributed computer system, an automated document annotation system and method adds hypertext cross-references to a set of known information sources into documents requested by a client computer in such a way that the merged document is displayable by existing Web browsers. The distributed computer network incorporates a plurality of servers to store documents. Each stored document has a unique document identifier and is viewable from a client computer having a browser configured to request and receive documents over the network. An annotation proxy, which is a software procedure configured to merge a requested document from a first server with hypertext links to documents containing associated supplemental information. The set of hypertext links and criteria for identifying where such links should be added to requested documents are defined by one or more dictionaries of cross-references. The annotation proxy then relays the merged document to a receiver unit that is selected from another proxy, such as a firewall proxy or another annotation overlay proxy, or the browser, which ultimately displays the merged document. The annotation proxy optionally includes a dictionary generator that generates a dictionary of references to documents requested by the user, each reference in the dictionary indicating the textual context of the hypertext link or links used to request the associated document. The generated dictionary represents information sources known and used by the user. The annotation proxy then annotates requested documents with cross-references in the dictionary that was generated by the annotation proxy.

Claims

1. In a distributed computer system incorporating a plurality of servers used to store documents, each document having a unique document identifier, and a client computer having a browser configured to request and receive the documents over the distributed computer system, an annotation system for automatically adding to a requested document cross references to other documents, the annotation system comprising:

at least one directory of cross references to documents, each cross referenced document having a unique source identifier;

an annotation proxy configured to form a merged document by merging the requested document from a first server with annotations comprising cross references to documents referenced by the at least one directory and to relay the merged document to a receiver selected from another proxy and the browser; and

a directory generator for automatically generating and updating the at least one directory of cross references to documents to include sources accessed by the client computer over a period time;

wherein

the directory of cross references to documents includes entries, at least a subset of the entries each comprising a document identifier specifying a document and a pattern, the pattern indicating criteria for inserting the document identifier into the requested document when creating the merged document;

the annotation proxy includes instructions for accepting commands from the client computer identifying a set of directories to use when annotating the requested document, and for forming the merged document by merging the requested document with annotations comprising cross references to documents referenced by the client computer identified set of directories; and

at least a subset of the annotations merged into the requested document each includes a relevance indicator, indicating likely relevance of the document referenced by the merged annotation.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the annotations are hypertext links defined using hypertext mark up language (HTML).

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a subset of the directory entries each includes a relevance indicator, indicating likely relevance of the document referenced by the entry.

4. A method for automatically adding to a requested document cross references to other documents, the method comprising the steps of:

recognizing a request for a stored document by a client;

transmitting the requested document to an annotation proxy for annotation;

providing, in association with the annotation proxy, at least one directory of cross references to documents, each cross referenced document having a unique source identifier;

merging the requested document with annotations comprising cross references to documents referenced by the at least one directory; and

relaying the merged document to a receiver selected from another proxy or the client;

the method further including automatically generating and updating the at least one directory of cross references to documents to include sources accessed by the client over a period time;

wherein

the directory of cross references to documents includes entries, at least a subset of the entries each comprising a document identifier specifying a document and a pattern, the pattern indicating criteria for inserting the document identifier into the requested document when creating the merged document;

the annotation proxy includes instructions for accepting commands from the client computer identifying a set of directories to use when annotating the requested document, and for forming the merged document by merging the requested document with annotations comprising cross references to documents referenced by the client computer identified set of directories; and

at least a subset of the annotations merged into the requested document each includes a relevance indicator, indicating likely relevance of the document referenced by the merged annotation.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the annotations are hypertext links defined using hypertext mark up language (HTML).

6. The method of claim 4, wherein at least a subset of the directory entries each includes a relevance indicator, indicating likely relevance of the document referenced by the entry.

7. In a distributed computer system incorporating a plurality of servers used to store documents, each document having a unique document identifier, and a client computer having a browser configured to request and receive the documents over the distributed computer system, a computer program product for controlling the operation of the client computer during use of the browser, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising:

at least one directory of cross references to documents, each cross referenced document having a unique source identifier;

an annotation proxy configured to form a merged document by merging the requested document from a first server with annotations comprising cross references to documents referenced by the at least one directory and to relay the merged document to a receiver selected from another proxy or the browser; and

a directory generator for automatically generating and updating the at least one directory of cross references to documents to include sources accessed by the client computer over a period time;

wherein

the directory of cross references to documents includes entries, at least a subset of the entries each comprising a document identifier specifying a document and a pattern, the pattern indicating criteria for inserting the document identifier into the requested document when creating the merged document;

the annotation proxy includes instructions for accepting commands from the client computer identifying a set of directories to use when annotating the requested document, and for forming the merged document by merging the requested document with annotations comprising cross references to documents referenced by the client computer identified set of directories; and

at least a subset of the annotations merged into the requested document each includes a relevance indicator, indicating likely relevance of the document referenced by the merged annotation.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the annotations are hypertext links defined using hypertext mark up language (HTML).

9. The computer memory of claim 7, wherein at least a subset of the directory entries each includes a relevance indicator, indicating likely relevance of the document referenced by the entry.