System and method for demonstration of dynamic web sites with integrated database without connecting to a network

• US 6,608,634 B1
• Filed: 12/23/1999
• Issued: 08/19/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sherrard, Jeffrey D., Pride, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Sy D.
• Application Number:
  US09/471,836
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• Field of Search: 345/700, 345/705, 345/714, 345/730, 345/733, 345/744-748, 345/760, 345/866, 345/962, 345/968, 705/1, 705/26, 707/10, 707/3, 707/501, 707/513
• US Class Current: 715/730
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 715/962 Operator interface for marketing or sales

Abstract

A system for displaying operations of a dynamic web site with integrated database without connecting to a network is disclosed. An off-line presentation of a selected web site is developed by extracting selected portions of hypertext markup language (“HTML”) documents and databases associated with the selected web site from the server to a client computer. The present invention automates the process of extracting HTML documents from the selected web site by using a script of commands. Based on the commands in the script, the client computer running a script engine is configured to transmit a request for transfer of the selected HTML documents and separately saved files which are related to the selected HTML documents including text, forms, images, sounds, videos, and other sections of the HTML documents. The off-line presentation is stored in the hard drive of a stand-alone system and is executed by using a web browser to allow a user to interact with the selected web site. In one embodiment, the off-line presentation is generated for an Internet Yellow Pages (“IYP”) web site providing on-line directory services. In this regard, the off-line presentation of the IYP web site allows sales representatives to market a wide range of services and products that are available over the IYP web site without the necessity of connecting to a network.

Claims

1. A system for providing an off-line presentation of a selected web site, comprising:

a network interface which interconnects a client computer to at least one server in connection with the selected web site via a communications network;

a hypertext document extracting module, running on said client computer, which employs a user defined script to extract a set of selected hypertext documents corresponding to selected hypertext links associated with said selected web site from at least one web server in connection with said selected web site via a network connection, said set of selected hypertext documents including a home page with at least one link to at least one linked web page;

a data extracting module, running on said client computer, which is configured to extract a selected portion of data associated with the selected web site from at least one database server in connection with said selected web site;

a data storage to store said set of selected hypertext documents and said selected portion of data extracted;

a stand-alone computing device, having access to said set of selected hypertext documents and said selected portion of data extracted, which is configured to retrieve and display said home page, to retrieve and display said at least one linked web page in response to activation of said at least one link to receive a search instruction entered by a user and to retrieve information from said selected portion of data in response to said search instruction and display said information retrieved; and

a graphical user interface in connection with said stand-alone computing device to display and enable interaction with said set of hypertext documents and said data stored in said data storage.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said set of selected hypertext documents and said selected portion of data collectively enable the user of the stand-alone computing device to demonstrate features of the selected web site without a network connection.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said data stored in said data storage is organized in the form of database records.

4. The system of claim 3 further comprising a search engine in communication with said graphical user interface configured to search said database records, in response to a search request entered by the user, and generate a search result list.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said data stored in said data storage is in a text file format.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said graphical user interface comprises a web browser running on said stand-alone computing device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said selected web site provides an on-line directory service.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the off-line presentation of the web site providing on-line directory service is used to market products and services offered through the on-line director service web site.

9. A method for developing a stand-alone presentation of a selected web site using a client computer having a memory and access to a communications network, wherein said stand-alone presentation of said selected web site is demonstrable without connecting to said communications network, said method comprising the steps of:

interconnecting said client computer to at least one server in connection with a selected web site via the communications network, said selected web site having a set of hypertext documents and at least one database;

extracting a portion of said set of hypertext documents corresponding to selected hypertext links associated with said selected web site from said at least one server employing a user defined script and storing said portion of said set of hypertext documents extracted in the memory of the client computer;

extracting data from said at least one database in connection with said server and storing said data extracted from said selected web site in the memory of the client computer;

disconnecting said client computer from said at least one server; and

accessing the memory and presenting said portion of said set of hypertext documents and said data extracted from said selected web site.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said step of accessing the memory and presenting said portion of said set of hypertext documents and said data extracted is accomplished by using a web browser running on a computing device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said portion of said set of hypertext documents comprises a home page with at least one link to at least one web page.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said step of accessing the memory and presenting said portion of said set of hypertext documents and said data extracted comprises the steps of:

retrieving said home page associated with said selected web site from said memory and displaying said home page retrieved;

retrieving said at least one web page from said memory and displaying said at least one web page in response to activation of said at least one link;

receiving a search request entered by a user;

searching said at least one database, in response to said search request, to generate a search result list; and

displaying said search result list generated.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said data stored in the memory is in the form of database records.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said data stored in the memory is in the form of ASCII data files.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said selected web site is an Internet Yellow Pages web site providing on-line directory services.