Offline viewing of internet content with a mobile device

• US 6,493,758 B1
• Filed: 09/08/1998
• Issued: 12/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: McLain, Jay F.
• Primary Examiner(s): WILEY, DAVID ARMAND
• Application Number:
  US09/149,694
• Time in Patent Office: 1,554 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/219, 709/246, 709/224, 709/227, 704/233, 717/11, 395/200.31
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and system for transferring offline browsing content information of a wide area network from a host computer to a mobile device includes connecting the mobile device to the host computer and obtaining characteristic information of the mobile device pertaining to at least one of hardware and software capabilities of the mobile device. The content information is transferred from the host computer to the mobile device as a function of the characteristic information.

Claims

1. A method for transferring selected content information organized in a hierarchical structure of a wide area network for offline browsing from a host computer to a mobile device, the method comprising:

connecting the mobile device to the host computer to form a communication link;

selecting a portion of the hierarchical structure to be transferred to the mobile device, the portion comprising multiple levels of the hierarchical structure;

obtaining content information corresponding to the portion by traversing through the portion of the hierarchical structure;

obtaining characteristic information of the mobile device pertaining to at least one of hardware and software capabilities of the mobile device; and

transferring the content information from the host computer to memory on the mobile device as a function of the characteristic information via the communications link.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transferring comprises transforming the content information prior to transmitting the content information to the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transferring comprises transforming the content information on the mobile device prior to storage in the memory.

4. The method of claim 1 and further comprising detecting a type of the content information to be transferred.

5. The method of claim 4 and further comprising:

storing content-type filtering modules on the host computer;

selecting a content-type filtering module as a function of the type of the content information to be transferred; and

wherein the step of transferring includes passing the content information to be transferred through the selected content-type filtering module, the content-type filtering module operating upon the content information.

6. The method of claim 5 and further comprising passing an address pointer to the selected content-type filtering module indicating a location of the content information to be transferred.

7. The method of claim 5 and further comprising passing a filter parameter to the selected content-type filtering module indicative of the characteristic information.

8. The method of claim 1 and further comprising:

connecting to a content provider through the wide area network, the content provider having the content information;

obtaining user preferences of the content information to be obtained from the content provider; and

transferring the content information from the content provider to the host computer as a function of the user preferences.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the user preferences include indications of the type of content information to be obtained.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the user preferences include indications as to where the content information is to be obtained.

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

selecting a portion of a hierarchical structure of content information to be transferred to a mobile device, the portion comprising multiple levels of the hierarchical structure;

downloading content information corresponding to the portion from a wide area network to a host computer by traversing through the portion of the hierarchical structure;

obtaining characteristic information of a mobile device connectable to the host computer, the characteristic information pertaining to at least one of hardware and software capabilities of the mobile device; and

transferring the content information from the host computer to memory on the mobile device via a communications link as a function of the characteristic information.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the step of transferring comprises transforming the content information prior to transmitting the content information to the mobile device.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11 wherein the step of transferring comprises transforming the content information on the mobile device prior to storage in memory.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 11 including instructions readable by a computer which, when implemented, cause the computer to handle information by performing a step comprising:

detecting a type of the content information to be transferred.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14 including instructions readable by a computer which, when implemented, cause the computer to handle information by performing steps comprising:

selecting a content-type filtering module as a function of the type of the content information to be downloaded; and

wherein the step of transferring includes passing the content information to be downloaded through the selected content-type filtering module, the content-type filtering module operating upon the content information.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 including instructions readable by a computer which, when implemented, cause the computer to handle information by performing a step comprising:

passing an address pointer to the selected content-type filtering module indicating a location of the content information to be downloaded.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 11 including instructions readable by a computer which, when implemented, cause the computer to handle information by performing a step comprising:

passing a filter parameter to the selected content-type filtering module indicative of the characteristic information.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 11 including instructions readable by a computer which, when implemented, cause the computer to handle information by performing steps comprising:

connecting to a content provider through a wide area network, the content provider having the content information;

obtaining user preferences of the content information to be obtained from the content provider; and

transferring the content information from the content provider to the host computer as a function of the user preferences.

19. A system for viewing content information organized in a hierarchical structure of a wide area network offline, the system comprising:

a selection module for selecting a portion of the hierarchical structure to be transmitted, the portion comprising multiple levels of the hierarchical structure;

a host computer comprising;

a first module for downloading content information corresponding to the portion by traversing through the selected portion of the hierarchical structure; and

a second module for transmitting the content information via a communications link;

a mobile device comprising;

a third module for receiving the content information from the second module; and

a fourth module for selectively viewing the content information; and

wherein at least one of the host computer and the mobile device includes a fifth module for operating on the content information as a function of characteristic information of the mobile device pertaining to at least one of hardware and software capabilities of the mobile device.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the fifth module comprises:

a plurality of content-type filtering modules for operating on a selected type of content information; and

a managing module for selecting a content-type filtering module as a function of the type of the content information to be downloaded.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the content-type filtering modules comprise streaming filters.

22. A mobile device for viewing content information organized in a hierarchical structure of a wide area network, the mobile device comprising:

a selection module for selecting a portion of the hierarchical structure, the portion comprising multiple levels of the hierarchical structure;

a first module for downloading content information corresponding to the selected portion from a content provider via a communications link by traversing through the selected portion of the hierarchical structure;

a second module for selectively viewing content information; and

a third module for operating on the content information as a function of characteristic information of the mobile device pertaining to at least one of hardware and software capabilities of the mobile device.

23. The mobile device of claim 22 wherein the third module comprises:

a plurality of content-type filtering modules for operating on a selected type of content information; and

a managing module for selecting a content-type filtering module as a function of the type of the content information.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the content-type filtering modules comprise streaming filters.

25. A method for obtaining offline browsing content information organized in a hierarchical structure of a content provider for use on a mobile device, the method comprising:

selecting a portion of the hierarchical structure to be transferred to the mobile device, the portion comprising multiple levels of the hierarchical structure;

obtaining content information corresponding to the selected portion by traversing through the selected portion of the hierarchical structure;

obtaining characteristic information of the mobile device pertaining to at least one of hardware and software capabilities of the mobile device; and

transferring the portion via a communications link to memory on the mobile device as a function of the characteristic information.

26. The method of claim 25 and further comprising detecting a type of the content information.

27. The method of claim 26 and further comprising:

selecting a content-type filtering module as a function of the type of the content information to be transferred; and

wherein the step of transferring includes passing the content information to be transferred through the selected content-type filtering module, the content-type filtering module operating upon the content information.

28. A method for obtaining offline browsing content information organized in a hierarchical structure of a content provider for use on a mobile device, the method comprising:

obtaining user preferences of content information to be downloaded from a content provider;

connecting to the content provider via a communications link;

downloading content information from the content provider as a function of the user preferences;

generating a file having tags associated with the content information downloaded and comprising multiple levels of the hierarchical structure; and

storing the content information and the file in memory of the mobile device.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the step of downloading comprises downloading content information to a host computer, and the method further comprises transferring the content information to the mobile device.

30. The method of claim 28 and further comprising:

obtaining characteristic information of the mobile device pertaining to at least one of hardware and software capabilities of the mobile device; and

transferring the content information to memory on the mobile device as a function of the characteristic information.

31. The method of claim 28 wherein the content information is organized in a hierarchical structure, wherein the file relates to the hierarchical structure of the content information and wherein downloading the content information includes traversing through the hierarchical structure of the content information.