Method and apparatus for delivering a web page to a client device based on printed publications and publisher controlled links

• US 6,778,988 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2001
• Issued: 08/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RR Donnelley & Sons Company
• Original Assignee: RR Donnelley & Sons Company
• Inventors: Bengtson, Michael B.
• Primary Examiner(s): ROBINSON, GRETA LEE
• Application Number:
  US09/846,674
• Publication Number:
  US 20020049781A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,204 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/102, 707/100, 707/9, 715/513
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/917 Text
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

The system described herein generates a search index and a hyperlink database associated with a plurality of printed publications from different publishers. The search index includes a plurality of words and/or phrases from the printed publications. The search index is preferably based on print data received from the associated publisher. The hyperlink database logically associates publication hit specifications with network addresses. A publication hit specification identifies a portion of the print data. Preferably, the network address points to a web page. The hyperlink database is based on network addresses received from an administrator authorized by the publisher (e.g., a person given a password by the content creator and/or copyright owner). Subsequently, the system is able to direct client devices to specific web pages in response to search queries received from client devices by correlating the received queries to network addresses using the search index and the hyperlink database.

Claims

1. A method of serving a web page to a client device, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving first print data from a first publisher, the first print data being indicative of a first printed publication;

receiving second print data from a second publisher, the second print data being indicative of a second printed publication, the first print data being different than the second print data, the first publisher being different than the second publisher;

generating a search index from the first print data and the second print data, the search index facilitating full-text searching of the first print data and the second print data;

receiving a first plurality of publication links from a first link administrator authorized by the first publisher, each of the first plurality of publication links associating each of a first plurality of publication hit specifications with each of a first plurality of network addresses, each of the first plurality of publication hit specifications identifying a portion of the first print data;

receiving a second plurality of publication links from a second link administrator authorized by the second publisher, each of the second plurality of publication links associating each of a second plurality of publication hit specifications with each of a second plurality of network addresses, each of the second plurality of publication hit specifications identifying a portion of the second print data;

the first plurality of publication links being different than the second plurality of publication links, the first link administrator lacking authorization to submit publication links associating a publication hit specification from the second plurality of publication hit specifications with any network address, the second link administrator lacking authorization to submit publication links associating a publication hit specification from the first plurality of publication hit specifications with any network address;

receiving a search query from the client device via a network;

correlating the query to at least one publication hit specification contained in the first plurality of publication hit specifications and the second plurality of publication hit specifications based on the search index;

determining a target network address contained in the first plurality of network addresses, the target network address being associated with the at least one publication hit specification by the first plurality of publication links; and

transmitting data related to the target network address to the client device via the network.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving a first plurality of publication links comprises the step of receiving a page link, the page link including a publication hit specification indicative a single page in the first printed publication, the page link associating the single page with a first network address.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, wherein the step of receiving a first plurality of publication links comprises the step of receiving a chapter link, the chapter link including a publication hit specification indicative of a group of pages related by a chapter in the first printed publication, the chapter link associating the group of pages with a second network address, the second network address being different than the first network address, the chapter link having a lower order of precedence than the page link.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving a search query from the client device comprises the step of receiving a search parameter, the search parameter being indicative of a search restricted to the search index.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising a step of searching a web page index using the search query.

6. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein the step of receiving a search query from the client device comprises the step of receiving a digital image.

7. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein the step of receiving a search query from the client device comprises the step of receiving text derived from a digital image.

8. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein the step of receiving a search query from the client device comprises the step of receiving a publication identifier.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting data related to the target network address comprises the step of transmitting a redirection message.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting data related to the target network address comprises the step of transmitting web page data.

11. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting data related to the target network address comprises the step of transmitting hyperlink data.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising the step of storing demographic information associated with the search query.

13. A method of serving a web page to a client device based on a printed publication, the method comprising the steps of:

generating a search index from print data, the print data being indicative of the printed publication, the search index associating a plurality of words in the printed publication with a plurality of page numbers on which the plurality of words occur in the printed publication;

receiving a plurality of page number links from an authorized publisher, each page number link associating a particular page in the printed publication with a network address;

receiving a publication query from the client device via a network, the publication query including a publication identifier and a search term;

correlating the publication query to a target page number of the printed publication based on the search index;

retrieving a target network address from the plurality of page number links based on the target page number; and

transmitting data related to the target network address to the client device via the network.

14. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of generating a search index from print data comprises the step of generating the search index from the print data during a printing process associated with the printed publication.

15. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of generating a search index from print data comprises the steps of:

optically scanning the printed publication to produce a plurality of digitized pages; and

performing a character recognition process on the digitized pages.

16. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of generating a search index from print data comprises the step of selecting a word to include in the plurality of words based on a visual indicator associated with the word.

17. A method as defined in claim 16, wherein the step of selecting a word to include in the plurality of words comprises the step of selecting the word based on at least one of a font type, a font style, and a font size associated with the word.

18. A method as defined in claim 16, wherein the step of selecting a word to include in the plurality of words comprises the step of selecting the word based on a graphic indicator associated with the word.

19. A method as defined in claim 18, wherein the step of selecting the word based on a graphic indicator associated with the word comprises the step of selecting the word based on at least one of an icon and a border associated with the word.

20. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of storing a plurality of page number links comprises the step of storing a chapter link, the chapter link being indicative a group of pages related by a chapter in the printed publication.

21. A method as defined in claim 20, wherein the step of storing a chapter link comprises the step of storing the chapter link at a lower order of precedence than a specific page number link referencing a page in the chapter.

22. A method as defined in claim 21, wherein the step of storing a plurality of page number links comprises the step of storing a publication title link, the publication title link being indicative of all the pages in the printed publication, the publication title link being stored at a lower order of precedence than the chapter link.

23. A method as defined in claim 22, wherein the step of storing a plurality of page number links comprises the step of storing a publisher link, the publisher link being indicative of all the pages in the printed publication and all the pages in a second printed publication, the publisher link being stored at a lower order of precedence than the publication title link.

24. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of storing a plurality of page number links comprises the step of associating the particular page in the printed publication with an Internet address.

25. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of receiving a publication query from the client device comprises the step of receiving at least one of a publication title, a page number, a registered phrase, and a foreign language indicator.

26. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of receiving a publication query from the client device comprises the step of receiving voice inputs entered at the client device.

27. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of receiving a publication query from the client device via a network comprises the step of receiving the publication query from the client device via the Internet.

28. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of transmitting data related to the target network address comprises the step of transmitting at least one of a redirection message, web page data, and hyperlink data.

29. A method as defined in claim 13, wherein the step of transmitting data related to the target network address comprises the step of transmitting a digital version of a second printed publication.

30. A method as defined in claim 13, further comprising the step of storing demographic information associated with the publication query.

31. An apparatus for serving a web page to a client device based on a printed publication, the apparatus comprising:

a memory device storing (i) a search index generated from print data used during a printing process associated with the printed publication, and including information linking various parts of the printed publication the print data being indicative of the printed publication, and (ii) a plurality of links, each link associating an index entry from the search index with a network address;

a network receiver structured to receive a query from the client device via a network;

a network transmitter structured to transmit data related to a target network address to the client device via the network; and

a controller operatively coupled to the memory device, the network receiver, and the network transmitter, the controller being structured to correlate the query to the target network address based on the search index and the plurality of links, the controller being structured to cause the network transmitter to transmit the data related to the network address to the client device via the network in response to the query.

32. An apparatus as defined in claim 31, further comprising an optical scanner structured to convert the printed publication into a bit map and an optical character recognition system structured to convert the bit map into the print data.

33. An apparatus as defined in claim 31, wherein the controller is further structured to detect a predefined visual indicator associated with a word in the print data, the controller being further structured to store the word associated with the predefined visual indicator in the memory device as part of the search index.

34. An apparatus as defined in claim 33, wherein the controller is further structured to detect at least one of a predefined font type, a predefined font style, a predefined font size, a predefined icon, and a predefined border.

35. An apparatus as defined in claim 31, wherein the search index stored in the memory device comprises a plurality of page number links, each page number link associating a particular page in the printed publication with a particular network address.

36. An apparatus as defined in claim 35, wherein the search index stored in the memory device comprises a chapter link, the chapter link being indicative of a group of pages related by a chapter in the printed publication, the chapter link being stored at a lower order of precedence than a specific page number link referencing a page in the chapter.

37. An apparatus as defined in claim 31, wherein the data related to the network address comprises at least one of a redirection message, a web page, and a hyperlink.

38. An apparatus as defined in claim 31, wherein the data related to the network address comprises a digital version of a second printed publication.

39. An apparatus for serving a web page associated with a printed publication to a client device via a network, the apparatus comprising:

a printing press system;

an index generation module operatively coupled to the printing press system, the index generation module being structured to receive print data from the printing press system, the print data being indicative of the printed publication, the index generation module being structured to generate a search index using the print data, the search index associating a plurality of words in the printed publication with a plurality of page numbers on which the plurality of words occur in the printed publication;

a link database, the link database holding a plurality of page number links, each page number link associating a particular page in the printed publication with a network address;

a network receiver operatively coupled to the network, the network receiver being structured to receive a publication query;

a correlation unit operatively coupled to the network receiver and the link database, the correlation unit being structured to determine a target page number of the printed publication based on the search index and the publication query, the correlation unit being structured to retrieve a target network address from the link database based on the target page number; and

a network transmitter operatively coupled to the network and the correlation unit, the network transmitter being structured to transmit data related to the target network address to the client device via the network.

40. An apparatus as defined in claim 39, wherein the index generation module is further structured to determine the plurality of words based on a tag associated with the plurality of words, the tag being included in the print data received from the printing press system.