Methods and apparatus for distributing and using metadata via the internet

• US 6,665,659 B1
• Filed: 02/01/2000
• Issued: 12/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rateze Remote Mgmt. L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: James D. Logan
• Inventors: Logan, James D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Application Number:
  US09/495,103
• Time in Patent Office: 1,414 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/200, 709/201, 709/249, 707/3, 707/5
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access

Abstract

A system for selectively distributing information from a multiplicity of Internet resources to a user in a way that make it easier for the user to quickly identify information of particular interest. The system employs a server for generating a central library of citations, each containing metadata that describes selected information from a resource identified by a URL. The server works in conjunction with a client computer which requests information on a topic or topics of interest by supplying preference data to the server. In response, the server delivers a subset of the citations to the client computer which match the preference data from the client. The client computer places this subset of citations in a local store where they may be compared with user requests by matching the metadata in each citation to criteria specified by the user. In addition, the locally stored citations may be sorted into an particular order in response to a user request. The filtered and sorted citations may then be used to present desired information to the user, either by displaying metadata contained in the citation or by using the URL in the citation to fetch relevant information via the Internet from the original resource.

Claims

1. The method of selectively distributing information via the Internet to a recipient which comprises, in combination,

employing one or more computers located remotely from said recipient to perform the steps of:

(a) retrieving information via the Internet from a plurality of different resources, each of said resources being specified by a unique URL value,

(b) processing said retrieved information to produce a collection of citations, each of said citations describing all or part of the information from a given one of said resources and each of said citations consisting of the combination of the URL value specifying said given one of said resources and one or more attribute values which characterize the information from said given one of said resources, and

(c) transmitting said collection of citations via the Internet from a server computer to a client computer operated by said recipient, and

employing a client computer operated by said recipient to perform the steps of;

(d) storing said collection of citations at said client computer,

(e) accepting a content specification from said recipient,

(f) extracting a subset of citations from said the collection of citations stored at said client computer by matching said content specification against corresponding attribute values in said collection of citations, and

(g) presenting information specified by said subset of citations to said recipient.

2. The method set forth in claim 1 including the further step of employing said client computer to sort said subset of citations in an order selected by said recipient.

3. The method set forth in claim 2 wherein said step of presenting information includes the step of altering the format of the information presented to the recipient in accordance with a format specification accepted from said recipient.

4. The method set forth in claim 1 further including the step of employing said client computer to transmit information requests from said client computer to the particular URLs contained in said subset of citations and for presenting to said recipient at least specified portions of the information received in response to said requests.

5. The method set forth in claim 4 wherein each of the citations in said subset includes information identifying said specified portions.

6. The method set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of processing said retrieved information to produce a collection of citations includes the step of presenting said retrieved information for inspection by the human operator of an editing station and accepting at least some of said attribute values from said human operator.

7. The method set forth in claim 6 wherein at least one of said attribute values accepted from said human operator which forms a part of an individual citation designates a specified portion of the information described by said individual citation.

8. The method as set forth in claim 6 wherein at least one of said attribute values is accepted from said human operator to characterize said information presented for inspection by said human operator.

9. The method set forth in claim 1 wherein said citations as transmitted to said client computer are expressed in Extended Markup Language.

10. The method as set forth in claim 9 wherein said citations are expressed in accordance with the Resource Description Framework (RDF) Model and Syntax Specification.

11. The method of selectively distributing information via the Internet from a plurality of different resources to a user at a remote location comprising, in combination,

utilizing a server computer located remotely from said user to perform the steps of:

retrieving available data from each given one of said plurality of different resources,

analyzing said available data from said each given one of said resources to produce a citation containing metadata describing the information retrieved from said given one of said resources and further containing the Internet address of said given one of said resources,

accepting a first request via the Internet from said user at said remote location which specifies at least a first characteristic of the information desired by said user, comparing the metadata in each of said citations with said first characteristic to select a subset of said citations, and

transmitting said subset of citations to said user at said remote location, and utilizing a client computer at said remote location to perform the steps of;

receiving and storing said subset of citations at said client computer,

accepting a second request from said user containing at least a second characteristic of the information desired by said user,

modifying said subset of citations in accordance with said second characteristic to form a revised subset of citations, and

presenting information specified by said revised subset of citations to said user.

12. The method set forth in claim 11 wherein said second characteristic specifies a sorting order and wherein said step of modifying said subset of citations comprises sorting said revised subset of citations into said sorting order.

13. The method set forth in claim 11 wherein said step of modifying said subset of citations comprises comparing each citation in said subset of citations with said second characteristic and including citations manifesting said second characteristic in said revised subset of citations.

14. The method of distributing selected information via the Internet which comprises, in combination,

employing at least one computer located remotely from said user to perform the steps of:

a. retrieving source data via the Internet from a plurality of different Internet resources, each of which is uniquely designated by a URL value,

b. processing said source data to produce a plurality of citations each of which contains metadata describing said source data retrieved from a corresponding one of said Internet resources and the URL value designating said corresponding one of said Internet resources,

c. accepting a first specification of desired information from a remote user,

d. comparing said specification with said citations to generate a subset of those citations which contain metadata satisfying said specification, and

e. transmitting said subset of citations to said remote user via the Internet, and employing a client computer operated by said remote user for performing the steps of;

f. receiving and storing said subset of citations,

g. accepting from said remote user a second specification of desired information,

h. processing said subset of citations to present information to said user in a form specified by said second specification.

15. The method of distributing information set forth in claim 14 wherein each citation includes an identification of at least one selected portion of the information available from the resource described by said citation and wherein said step of processing said subset of citations to present information to said user includes means for identifying said selected portion.

16. The method set forth in claim 15 wherein said means for identifying said selected portion comprises means for displaying said selected portion more prominently than other information from the resource described by said citation.

17. The method set forth in claim 14 wherein said step of processing said subset of citations to present information to the user comprises sorting said subset of citations in accordance with said second specification.

18. The method set forth in claim 17 wherein said step of processing said subset of citations to present information to the user further comprises filtering said subset of citations to present to the user only that information which satisfies said second specification.

19. The method set forth in claim 14 wherein said step of processing said subset of citations to present information to the user comprises filtering said subset of citations to present to the user only that information which satisfies said second specification.