System and method for producing a virtual online book

• US 7,139,977 B1
• Filed: 01/24/2001
• Issued: 11/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Russell, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLACKWELL, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US09/769,927
• Time in Patent Office: 2,127 Days
• Field of Search: 715/530, 715/513, 715/514, 715/517, 715/531, 715/500.1, 715/522, 709/200, 709/201, 707/102, 707/5, 707/3, 707/2, 707/104.1, 434/362
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/151 Transformation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/258 Heading extraction; Automatic titling; Numbering

Abstract

A system and method are provided for generating a virtual book from a set of electronic documentation. From the documentation, a set of topics (e.g., headings) are copied and saved, along with references to their locations in the documentation. The hierarchy of documentation topics is also recorded so that from one topic, its parent and/or children can be easily reached. The topics are classified into one or more categories (e.g., concept, task, example, reference, troubleshooting) identifying general (and/or specific) types of information. When a subject for a virtual book is received, the topics are searched for those relevant to the subject. A virtual book is then assembled to contain the relevant topics, which may be grouped by category. Within a category, topics may be listed in alphabetical order, in order of relevance, in the order they appear in the documentation or within a given book, etc.

Claims

1. An method for composing a virtual book from a set of electronically stored documentation comprising multiple books, the method comprising:

automatically and under computer control parsing said electronically stored documentation to gather meta-information representing physical attributes of said electronically stored documentation;

automatically storing said meta-information in a database;

automatically identifying a plurality of topics based on said meta-information and the chapter and section headings in the documentation, wherein each said topic is associated with a portion of the documentation;

automatically determining a structure of the documentation, wherein said structure indicates a hierarchy of said topics within the documentation;

automatically classifying each of said topics within one or more categories;

receiving a subject for a virtual book;

automatically using said topics and said meta-information to compose said virtual book to include a subset of said topics that are relevant to said subject, and each said relevant topic includes a pointer to said associated portion of the documentation, wherein the complete virtual book can be stored for future access.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising searching said topics for a set of topics relevant to said subject.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said relevant topics are grouped in said virtual book by said categories.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said relevant topics within a first category are listed in the order of their relevance to said subject.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said relevant topics within a first category are listed in the order they occur within the documentation.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying index entries in the documentation.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said index entries are included in said virtual book.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising sorting said relevant topics according to their relevance to said topic.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said categories include one or more of the set of:

concept, task, example, reference and troubleshooting.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said composing comprises:

identifying a characteristic of a viewer of said virtual book; and

customizing said virtual book for the viewer on the basis of said characteristic.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said characteristic is one of the set of:

employment role and level of experience.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said characteristic comprises a level of experience of the user and said customizing comprises omitting one or more of said categories from said virtual book.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said characteristic comprises an employment role of the user and said customizing comprises implementing said role as another category of said virtual book.

14. A computer-implemented method for generating a virtual electronic book from a set of electronic documentation comprising multiple books stored in multiple files, comprising:

automatically parsing said electronic documentation to gather meta-information representing physical attributes of said electronic documentation;

storing said meta-information of the multiple files in a database;

automatically identifying topics based on said meta-information and the chapter and section headings within the documentation, wherein each said topic comprises a heading within one of the multiple files;

automatically associating unique identifiers with each of said topics;

automatically storing said topics in said database;

for each of said stored topics;

automatically storing in said database a reference to a first book containing said topic;

automatically storing in said database a reference to a first file containing said topic;

automatically storing in said database a reference to a parent topic of said topic, if any, in the first book; and

automatically storing in said database a reference to a child topic of said topic, if any, in the first book;

automatically categorizing each of said stored topics into one or more pre-determined categories, wherein each of said categories represents a type of topic;

receiving a subject for a virtual book;

automatically searching said stored topics for topics relevant to the subject;

automatically presenting said virtual book to a viewer, wherein said virtual book comprises said relevant topics grouped according to said categories and said meta-information; and

automatically storing said virtual book for future access, wherein the complete virtual book can be stored.

15. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform method for composing a virtual book from a set of electronically stored documentation comprising multiple books, the method comprising:

automatically parsing said set of electronically stored documentation to gather meta-information representing physical attributes of said electronically stored documentation;

automatically storing said meta-information in a database;

automatically identifying a plurality of topics based on said meta-information and the chapter and section headings in the documentation, wherein each said topic is associated with a portion of the documentation;

automatically determining a structure of the documentation, wherein said structure indicates a hierarchy of said topics within the documentation;

automatically classifying each of said topics within one or more categories;

receiving a subject for a virtual book;

automatically using said topics and said meta-information to compose said virtual book to include a subset of said topics that are relevant to said subject, and each said relevant topic includes a pointer to said associated portion of the documentation, wherein the complete virtual book can be stored for future access.

16. An apparatus for producing a virtual book, comprising:

a set of electronic documentation files;

a parsing module configured to automatically gather meta-information representing physical attributes of said electronic documentation;

a database configured to automatically store said meta-information;

a topic module configured to automatically identify a set of topics based on said meta-information and the chapter and section headings within said documentation, wherein each said topic comprises a heading appearing in said documentation;

a structural analysis module configured to automatically determine a hierarchy of said topics within said documentation;

a categorizer configured to automatically classify a first of said topics into one or more predetermined categories;

a database configured to automatically store said topics, said hierarchy and said classifications;

a processor configured to automatically produce a virtual book comprising a subset of said set of topics from said topics and said meta-information, wherein said subset of said topics is relevant to a subject of said virtual book; and

a storage device for automatically storing said virtual book, wherein the complete virtual book can be stored.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a network server configured to present said virtual book to a user.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising an index module configured to assemble index entries referring to said relevant topics within said documentation.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said processor is further configured to customize said virtual book on the basis of one of a role of a viewer of said virtual book and a level of experience of the viewer.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said categories include one or more of the set of:

concept, task, example, reference, troubleshooting, role of a viewer of said virtual book and level of experience of the viewer.