Structured documents in a publishing system

• US 6,584,480 B1
• Filed: 10/30/2000
• Issued: 06/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shewchuk, John P., Meyer, Robert F., Smith, Walter W., Ferrel, Patrick J., Millet, Stephen J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DESAI, RACHNA SINGH
• Application Number:
  US09/698,067
• Time in Patent Office: 967 Days
• Field of Search: 707/513, 707/514, 707/501.1
• US Class Current: 715/205
• 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 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging

Abstract

An authoring environment for producing content for an on-line system is described. This environment includes a story editor which can save files in a Multimedia Document Format (MDF) file. A MDF file is an OLE storage wherein one storage object holds text of the content in a Multimedia Publishing Markup Language. Other parts of the MDF file include storages for holding content search terms and storages for embedded objects.

Claims

1. A method for converting a tagged document into a multimedia document file, the method comprising steps of:

creating a root storage object for the multimedia document file;

creating an object storage hierarchically below the root storage object;

creating a storage for MPML tagged text hierarchically below the root storage object;

reading a next style tag within the multimedia document file; and

when the next style tag is an embedded object tag, placing a link pointer to the embedded object corresponding to the embedded object tag in the storage for the MPML tagged text, saving the embedded object to an embedded object storage, the embedded object storage having a data stream and a results stream, and saving a bitmap corresponding to the embedded object in the results stream of the embedded object storage.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising steps of:

when the next style tag is a head tag, retrieving tagged text corresponding to the head tag, converting the tagged text corresponding to the head tag into an MPML tag and storing the converted tagged text corresponding to the head tag in the storage for the MPML tagged text; and

when the next style tag is a body tag, retrieving tagged text corresponding to the body tag, converting the tagged text corresponding to the body tag into an MPML tag and storing the converted tagged text corresponding to the body tag in the storage for the MPML tagged text.

3. The method according to claim 2, repeatedly performing the steps of:

reading the next style tag within the multimedia document file,

when the next style tag is an embedded object tag, placing a link pointer to the embedded object corresponding to the embedded object tag, saving the embedded object to an object storage having a data stream and a results stream, and saving a bitmap corresponding to the embedded object in the results stream of the object storage,

when the next style tag is a head tag, retrieving tagged text corresponding to the head tag, converting the tagged text corresponding to the head tag into an MPML tag and storing the converted tagged text corresponding to the head tag in the storage for the MPML tagged text, and

when the next style tag is a body tag, retrieving tagged text corresponding to the body tag, converting the tagged text corresponding to the body tag into an MPML tag and storing the converted tagged text corresponding to the body tag in the storage for the MPML tagged text,

until all tags in the multimedia document file have been read.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the link pointer uses a name associated with the embedded object as a reference.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of creating a find properties storage object for the multimedia document file hierarchically below the root storage object.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the step of creating a find properties storage object for the multimedia document file hierarchically below the root storage object includes a step of storing find properties associated with the multimedia document file in the find properties storage object.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the multimedia document file includes text formatted in a rich text format.

8. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for converting a tagged document into a multimedia document file, comprising steps of:

creating a root storage object for the multimedia document file;

creating an object storage hierarchically below the root storage object;

creating a storage for MPML tagged text hierarchically below the root storage object;

reading a next style tag within the multimedia document file; and

when the next style tag is an embedded object tag, placing a link pointer to the embedded object corresponding to the embedded object tag in the storage for the MPML tagged text, saving the embedded object to an embedded object storage, the embedded object storage having a data stream and a results stream, and saving a bitmap corresponding to the embedded object in the results stream of the embedded object storage.

9. The computer-readable medium according to claim 8, further comprising steps of:

when the next style tag is a head tag, retrieving tagged text corresponding to the head tag, converting the tagged text corresponding to the head tag into an MPML tag and storing the converted tagged text corresponding to the head tag in the storage for the MPML tagged text; and

when the next style tag is a body tag, retrieving tagged text corresponding to the body tag, converting the tagged text corresponding to the body tag into an MPML tag and storing the converted tagged text corresponding to the body tag in the storage for the MPML tagged text.

10. The computer-readable medium according to claim 9, repeatedly performing the steps of:

reading the next style tag within the multimedia document file,

when the next style tag is an embedded object tag, placing a link pointer to the embedded object corresponding to the embedded object tag, saving the embedded object to an object storage having a data stream and a results stream, and saving a bitmap corresponding to the embedded object in the results stream of the object storage,

when the next style tag is a head tag, retrieving tagged text corresponding to the head tag, converting the tagged text corresponding to the head tag into an MPML tag and storing the converted tagged text corresponding to the head tag in the storage for the MPML tagged text, and

when the next style tag is a body tag, retrieving tagged text corresponding to the body tag, converting the tagged text corresponding to the body tag into an MPML tag and storing the converted tagged text corresponding to the body tag in the storage for the MPML tagged text,

until all tags in the multimedia document file have been read.

11. The computer-readable medium according to claim 8, wherein the link pointer uses a name associated with the embedded object as a reference.

12. The computer-readable according to claim 8, further comprising a step of creating a find properties storage object for the multimedia document file hierarchically below the root storage object.

13. The computer-readable medium according to claim 12, wherein the step of creating a find properties storage object for the multimedia document file hierarchically below the root storage object includes a step of storing find properties associated with the multimedia document file in the find properties storage object.

14. The computer-readable medium according to claim 8, wherein the multimedia document file includes text formatted in a rich text format.

15. A parse tree for a multimedia document file, comprising:

a root storage; and

a tagged text storage located hierarchically below the root storage, the tagged text storage including an embedded object storage.

16. The parse tree according to claim 15, further comprising a find property storage located hierarchically below the root storage, the find property storage including find properties associated with the multimedia document file.

17. The parse tree according to claim 15, further comprising a body storage located hierarchically below the tagged text storage, the body storage including the embedded object storage.

18. The parse tree according to claim 15, wherein the embedded object storage includes at least one of object data and an object bitmap.

19. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first data field containing a root storage object for a multimedia document file;

a second data field containing an object storage hierarchically below the root storage object; and

a third data field containing a storage for MPML tagged text hierarchically below the root storage object, the MPML tagged text including an embedded object.

20. The computer-readable medium according to claim 19, wherein the MPML tagged further includes a link pointer to the embedded object, and

wherein the embedded object includes a data stream and a results stream, the results stream including a bitmap corresponding to the embedded object.

21. The computer-readable medium according to claim 19, wherein the MPML tagged text further includes a head tag.

22. The computer-readable medium according to claim 19, wherein the MPML tagged text further includes a body tag.

23. The computer-readable medium according to claim 19, wherein the data structure further comprises a fourth data field containing a find properties storage object for the multimedia document file hierarchically below the root storage object.

24. A method for rendering a content of a multimedia document file, the method comprising steps of:

identifying a linked style sheet associated with the multimedia document file;

requesting an MPML parse tree corresponding to the content of the multimedia document file;

determining whether a child node hangs off of the parse tree;

determining whether the child node is a leaf node when a child node hangs off of the parse tree;

determining whether the leaf node contains an embedded object when the child node is a leaf node;

loading the embedded object into a control region of a display space; and

displaying the embedded object in the control region of the display space.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the embedded object is an OLE object.

26. The method according to claim 24, wherein the step of loading the embedded object in the control region of a display space includes a step of using LoadOleObject and InsertOleObject commands.

27. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for rendering a content of a multimedia document file, comprising steps of:

identifying a linked style sheet associated with the multimedia document file;

requesting an MPML parse tree corresponding to the content of the multimedia document file;

determining whether a child node hangs off of the parse tree;

determining whether the child node is a leaf node when a child node hangs off of the parse tree;

determining whether the leaf node contains an embedded object when the child node is a leaf node;

loading the embedded object into a control region of a display space; and

displaying the embedded object in the control region of the display space.

28. The computer-readable medium according to claim 27, wherein the embedded object is an OLE object.

29. The computer-readable medium according to claim 27, wherein the step of loading the embedded object in the control region of a display space includes a step of using LoadOleObject and InsertOleObject commands.