Channel definition architecture extension

• US 6,449,638 B1
• Filed: 06/30/1998
• Issued: 09/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tuniman, David, Wecker, Dave
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cardone, Jason D.
• Application Number:
  US09/107,941
• Time in Patent Office: 1,533 Days
• Field of Search: 709/216, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/223, 709/238, 709/317, 709/318, 709/328, 707/10
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/103 Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents automatic justification G06F40/189; automatic line break hyphenation G06F40/191
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/123 Storage facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/149 Adaptation of the text data for streaming purposes, e.g. Efficient XML Interchange [EXI] format
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2757 by data transmission, e.g. downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/023 with message or information receiving capability

Abstract

A method for rendering information, such as, available through the Internet on a computer includes storing a content structure file, a data file and a script file. The data file includes data indicative of the information and the script file includes script information indicative of a desired form in which the data is to be rendered. The content structure file, data file and script file are independently receivable by the computer. The content structure file is read to ascertain which script in the script file is associated with data to be rendered. The data from the data file is retrieved and the associated script file is executed to render the data. Instructions can be provided on a computer readable medium to implement the method.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium including instructions readable by a computer which, when implemented, cause the computer to handle information from a server remote from the computer by performing steps comprising:

storing a content structure file, a data file and a script file on the computer, the data file including data indicative of the information and the script file including script information indicative of a desired form in which the data is to be rendered, the content structure file, data file and script file being independently received and stored by the computer;

reading the content structure file to ascertain which script in the script file is associated with data to be rendered;

retrieving the data from the data file and executing the associated script in the script file to render the data; and

displaying the rendered data on a display controlled by the computer.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the content structure file includes references to data and scripts in a hierarchy.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 2 wherein reading the content structure file to ascertain which script in the script file is associated with the data to be rendered includes choosing the script as a function of the hierarchy.

4. The computer readable medium of claim 3 wherein the content structure file includes script tags associated with scripts in the script file, the script tags being in the hierarchy.

5. The computer readable medium of claim 4 wherein choosing the script file includes choosing a script referenced by a script tag in a higher portion of the hierarchy for data to be rendered in a lower portion of the hierarchy if there is no associated script tag for the data in the lower portion of the hierarchy.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 1 including instructions readable by a computer which, when implemented, cause the computer to handle information by performing steps comprising:

storing a preference on the computer file having information regarding data to be stored in the data file; and

intermittently receiving updated data and reading the preference file to ascertain if the updated data is to be stored in the data file.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 6 wherein the content structure file includes preference tags associated with default preferences, and wherein storing a preference file includes reading the preference tags.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7 including instructions readable by a computer which, when implemented, cause the computer to handle information by performing steps comprising:

changing the information in the preference file.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein executing the script comprises rendering the data in a processor independent form.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the computer comprises a mobile device, and wherein storing the content structure file, data file and script file includes receiving the content structure file, data file and script file from a desktop computer.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein executing the script comprises rendering the data in hypertext markup language (HTML) form.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 1 including instructions readable by a computer which, when implemented, cause the computer to handle information by performing steps comprising:

storing a first script file and a second script file on the computer; and

wherein reading the content structure file to ascertain which script includes examining the first script file for the associated script and wherein executing includes executing another script from the second script file if the associated script is not found.

13. A method for displaying information from a server on a display of a computer remote from the server comprising:

storing a content structure file, a data file and a script file on the computer, the data file including data indicative of the information and the script file including script information indicative of a desired form in which the data is to be rendered, the content structure file, data file and script file being independently received and stored by the computer;

reading the content structure file to ascertain which script in the script file is associated with data to be rendered;

retrieving the data from the data file and executing the associated script in the script file to render the data; and

displaying the rendered data on the computer'"'"'s display.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the content structure file includes references to data and scripts in a hierarchy.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein reading the content structure file to ascertain which script in the script file is associated with the data to be rendered includes choosing the script as a function of the hierarchy.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the content structure file includes script tags associated with scripts in the script file, the script tags being in the hierarchy.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein choosing the script file includes choosing a script referenced by a script tag in a higher portion of the hierarchy for data to be rendered in a lower portion of the hierarchy if there is no associated script tag for the data in the lower portion of the hierarchy.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein executing the script comprises rendering the data in a processor independent form.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein executing the script comprises rendering the data in hypertext markup language (HTML) form.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the computer comprises a mobile device, and wherein storing the content structure file, data file and script file includes receiving the content structure file, data file and script file from a desktop computer.

21. The method of claim 13 and further comprising:

storing a preference file on the computer having information regarding data to be stored in the data file; and

intermittently receiving updated data and reading the preference file to ascertain if the updated data is to be stored in the data file.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the content structure file includes preference tags associated with default preferences, and wherein storing a preference file includes reading the preference tags.

23. The method of claim 22 and further comprising changing the information in the preference file.

24. The method of claim 13 and further comprising storing a first script file and a second script file on the computer;

and wherein reading the content structure file to ascertain which script includes examining the first script file for the associated script and wherein executing includes executing another script from the second script file if the associated script is not found.