Method and system in a computer network for automatically adding synchronization points to network documents

• US 6,192,383 B1
• Filed: 09/10/1998
• Issued: 02/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cragun, Brian John
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Application Number:
  US09/150,708
• Time in Patent Office: 894 Days
• Field of Search: 707/530, 707/501, 707/513, 707/201, 345/329, 345/332, 345/331, 345/302, 709/217-219, 709/203-204
• US Class Current: 715/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/10 Text processing natural language analysis G06F40/20; semantic analysis G06F40/30; processing or translation of natural language G06F40/40
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

A method and system for uniformly indexing a network document displayed within a computer display screen in a computer network having a group of clients connectable to one or more servers, wherein the network document is composed of displayable components. Initially, all displayable components within the network document are identified. Next, the displayable components are serially evaluated against a profile list of particular displayable components within the network document, in response to identifying all displayable components within the network document. Finally, synchronization points are automatically inserted at predetermined locations within the network document, in response to serially evaluating the displayable components against the profile list, wherein each synchronization point is associated with a particular displayable component contained within the profile list, thereby permitting users reviewing copies of the same network document in varying display formats to refer to identical locations within the network document relative to the synchronization points, regardless of the type of display format utilized to display the network document at each of the group of clients within the computer network. The network document may be composed of a World Wide Web document. The web document is thus parsed and all components belonging to the component list are serially marked. This is accomplished utilizing a special tag for processing and a follow-up tag for display. The result is a uniform and consistent set of synchronization points throughout the document.

Claims

1. A method for uniformly indexing a network document displayed within a computer display screen in a computer network having a plurality of clients connected to one or more servers, wherein said network document includes at least one displayable component, said method comprising the steps of:

identifying all displayable components within said network document;

serially evaluating said displayable components against a profile list of particular displayable components within said network document, in response to identifying all displayable components within said network document; and

automatically inserting synchronization points at predetermined locations within said network document, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list, wherein each synchronization point is associated with a particular displayable component contained within said profile list, thereby permitting users reviewing copies of the same network document in varying display formats to refer to identical locations within said network document relative to said synchronization points, regardless of the type of display format utilized to display said network document at each of said plurality of clients.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of identifying all displayable components within said network document further comprises the step of:

parsing said network document into displayable components.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

preserving existing synchronization points within said network document, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list.

5. A system for uniformly indexing a network document displayed within a computer display screen in a computer network having a plurality of clients connectable to one or more servers, wherein said network document is composed of displayable components, said system comprising:

means for identifying all displayable components within said network document;

means for serially evaluating said displayable components against a profile list of particular displayable components within said network document, in response to identifying all displayable components within said network document; and

means for automatically inserting synchronization points at predetermined locations within said network document, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list, wherein each synchronization point is associated with a particular displayable component contained within said profile list, thereby permitting users reviewing copies of the same network document in varying display formats to refer to identical locations within said network document relative to said synchronization points, regardless of the type of display format utilized to display said network document at each of said plurality of clients.

4. The method of claim 6, wherein said automatically inserting step further comprises the step of:

automatically inserting values between synchronization points at predetermined locations within said network document while preserving existing synchronization points, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list, wherein each synchronization point is associated with a particular displayable component contained within said profile list, thereby permitting users reviewing copies of the same network document in varying display formats to refer to identical locations within said network document relative to said synchronization points, regardless of the type of display format utilized to display said network document at each of said plurality of clients.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said means for identifying all displayable components within said network document further comprises:

means for parsing said network document into displayable components.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said network document comprises a web document.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein said profile list of particular displayable components within said network document comprises a profile list of paragraphs and headers.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein said profile list of particular displayable components within said network document comprises a profile list of visible words.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said display format utilized to display said network document at each of said plurality of clients further comprises:

a printable display format.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said profile list of particular displayable components within said network document comprises a profile list that includes sentences.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said profile list of particular displayable components within said network document comprises a profile list that includes section notation.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein said profile list of particular displayable components within said network document comprises a profile list that includes images.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising:

means for preserving existing synchronization points within said network document, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein said means for automatically inserting synchronization points at predetermined locations within said network document, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list, wherein each synchronization point is associated with a particular displayable component contained within said profile list, thereby permitting users reviewing copies of the same network document in varying display formats to refer to identical locations within said network document relative to said synchronization points, regardless of the type of display format utilized to display said network document at each of said plurality of clients, further comprises:

means for automatically inserting values between synchronization points at predetermined locations within said network document while preserving existing synchronization points, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list, wherein each synchronization point is associated with a particular displayable component contained within said profile list, thereby permitting users reviewing copies of the same network document in varying display formats to refer to identical locations within said network document relative to said synchronization points, regardless of the type of display format utilized to display said network document at each of said plurality of clients.

16. A program product residing in a computer memory in a computer for uniformly indexing a network document displayed within a computer display screen in a computer network having a plurality of clients connectable to one or more servers, wherein said network document is composed of displayable components, said program product comprising:

instruction means residing in a computer for identifying all displayable components within said network document;

instruction means residing in a computer for serially evaluating said displayable components against a profile list of particular displayable components within said network document, in response to identifying all displayable components within said network document; and

instruction means residing in a computer for automatically inserting synchronization points at predetermined locations within said network document, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list, wherein each synchronization point is associated with a particular displayable component contained within said profile list, thereby permitting users reviewing copies of the same network document in varying display formats to refer to identical locations within said network document relative to said synchronization points, regardless of the type of display format utilized to display said network document at each of said plurality of clients.

17. The program product of claim 16 wherein said instruction means residing in a computer for identifying all displayable components within said network document further comprises:

instruction means residing in a computer for parsing said network document into displayable components.

18. The program product of claim 16 further comprising:

instruction means residing in a computer for preserving existing synchronization points within said network document, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list.

19. The program product of claim 18 wherein said instruction means residing in a computer for automatically inserting synchronization points at predetermined locations within said network document, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list, wherein each synchronization point is associated with a particular displayable component contained within said profile list, thereby permitting users reviewing copies of the same network document in varying display formats to refer to identical locations within said network document relative to said synchronization points, regardless of the type of display format utilized to display said network document at each of said plurality of clients, further comprises:

instruction means residing in a computer for automatically inserting values between synchronization points at predetermined locations within said network document while preserving existing synchronization points, in response to serially evaluating said displayable components against said profile list, wherein each synchronization point is associated with a particular displayable component contained within said profile list, thereby permitting users reviewing copies of the same network document in varying display formats to refer to identical locations within said network document relative to said synchronization points, regardless of the type of display format utilized to display said network document at each of said plurality of clients.