System and method for generating electronic documents having independently formattable regions

• US 6,845,483 B1
• Filed: 10/22/1999
• Issued: 01/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Carroll, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Stephen S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): QUELER, ADAM M
• Application Number:
  US09/422,976
• Time in Patent Office: 1,915 Days
• Field of Search: 715/513, 715/509, 715/521, 715/523, 715/517
• US Class Current: 715/236
• 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 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]

Abstract

A system and method for generating a single electronic document having independently formatted regions. Different regions of a document are given attributes according to a set of region records, which are all contained within a single file. No assembly of separate HTML files as in the HTML standard is necessary. Users can customize documents to desired formats, without restriction.

Claims

1. A method of composing an electronic document, comprising the steps of:

generating a file comprising;

structure information for creating at least two independently formattable regions within the electronic document, wherein the structure information defines at least an arrangement of the at least two independently formattable regions within a frameset; and

content for each of the at least two independently formattable regions within the frameset; and

enabling a document management file to present the electronic document by accessing the file having both the structure information and the content so that the document management file does not need to access more than one file to present the electronic document.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the at least two independently formattable regions is associated with pre-selected content.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising, storing attribute information, wherein the attribute information and the content are associated with corresponding structure information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the attribute information comprises at least one of highlighting, bolding, underlining, italicizing, a default language, and a background color.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the at least two independently formattable regions is associated with at least one of pre-selected content and pre-selected attribute information.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the independently formattable regions is associated with a combination of pre-selected content and pre-selected attribute information.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the independently formattable regions corresponds to a header of an email message, and at least another of the independently formattable regions corresponds to a body of an email message.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the structure information, the content, and the attribute information are contained within the document management file.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the structure information, the content, and the attribute information are contained in a document management table.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the document management table is translated into a standardized markup language prior to transmission of the document across a network.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one of the independently formattable regions is associated with a predetermined name and at least one region default attribute.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one region default attribute is capable of being overridden.

13. The method of claim 3 further comprising translating the electronic document into a plurality of HTML documents.

14. The method of claim 3 wherein at least one of the content and the attribute information is linked information.

15. The method of claim 3 wherein the attribute information comprises a functional attribute.

16. A system for processing an electronic document, comprising:

a storage unit for storing, in a single file, structure information for creating at least two independently formattable regions within the electronic document, content that corresponds to each of the at least two independently formattable regions of the electronic document, and attribute information of the electronic document, wherein the structure information defines at least an arrangement of the at least two independently formattable regions within a frameset; and

a processor unit, wherein the processor unit is adapted to associate at least the attribute information and the content with corresponding structure information, and wherein the processor unit enables a document management file to present the electronic document by accessing the single file having the structure information, the content and the attribute information so that the document management file does not need to access more than one file to present the electronic document.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the attribute information governs format of each of the at least two independently formattable regions.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the attribute information further governs a functionality associated with a selected independently formattable region.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor unit translates the structure information, the content, and the attribute information, stored in the single file, into at least two documents prior to transmitting each of the documents across a network.

20. A computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for storing an electronic document, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable program for generating a file that includes structure information for creating at least two independently formattable regions within the electronic document, wherein the structure information defines an arrangement of the at least two independently formattable regions within a frameset;

computer readable program for associating, within the file, attribute information and content for each of the independently formattable regions; and

computer readable program for enabling a document management file to present the electronic document by accessing the file having the structure information, the attribute information and the content so that the document management file does not need to access more than one file to present the electronic document.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the attribute information comprises functional attribute information.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the structure information, the content, and the attribute information are stored in a document management table.

23. A system for processing an electronic document, comprising:

storage unit means for storing, in a file, structure information for creating at least two independently formattable regions within the electronic document, content corresponding to each of the at least two independently formattable regions in the electronic document, and attribute information of the electronic document, wherein the structure information defines at least an arrangement of the at least two independently formattable regions within a frameset; and

processor unit means for associating at least the attribute information and the content with corresponding structure information, and wherein the processor unit means enables a document management file to present the electronic document by accessing the file having the structure information, the attribute information and the content so that the document management file does not need to access more than one file to present the electronic document.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the attributes information governs a format of each of the independently formattable regions.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the attribute information further governs a functionality associated with a selected independently formattable region.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the processor unit means translates the structure information, the content, and the attribute information, stored in the file, into at least two documents prior to transmitting each of the documents across a network.

27. A method of composing an electronic document that is generated by a word processing application, comprising the steps of:

generating a file for the word processing application, comprising;

structure information for creating at least two independently formattable regions within the electronic document, wherein the structure information defines at least an arrangement of the at least two independently formattable regions; and

content for each of the at least two independently formattable regions; and

enabling a document management file to present the electronic document by accessing the file having both the structure information and the content so that the document management file does not need to access more than one file to present the electronic document.

28. A method of composing an electronic document that is generated by an electronic mail application, comprising the steps of:

generating a file for the electronic mail application, comprising;

structure information for creating at least two independently formattable regions within the electronic document, wherein the structure information defines at least an arrangement of the at least two independently formattable regions including at least a header portion and a body portion; and

content for each of the at least two independently formattable regions; and

enabling a document management file to present the electronic document by accessing the file having both the structure information and the content so that the document management file does not need to access more than one file to present the electronic document.

29. A method of composing an electronic document that is generated by a web browser application, comprising the steps of:

generating a file for the web browser application, comprising;

structure information for creating at least two independently formattable regions within the electronic document, wherein the structure information defines at least an arrangement of the at least two independently formattable regions within a frameset; and

content for each of the at least two independently formattable regions within the frameset; and

enabling a document management file to present the electronic document by accessing the file having both the structure information and the content so that the document management file does not need to access more than one file to present the electronic document.